Cat calls and whistles. You know what I am talking about. If you are of the female persuasion and have ever been walking out on the street, jogging down the road or just minding your own business while being in close proximity to a roadway where there are moving cars, you have probably had to endure a cat call or a whistle from some unknown driver or car passenger.
They started for me in high school. I would be out running along a dirt road by my parent's house and a truck full of construction workers would buzz by. One of them would always have their head out of the window, like one of those goofy dogs that loves to have the wind blown in their faces, and their mouths would be moving with calls of "woo hoo" or "shake that thing". Sometimes I would even get a "hey baby". Whistles would compliment the cat calls. They would come before or after the cat call. But they were always present. The guys would be any age but mostly in their early 20's. At least that is what they looked like in the blur of the moment when the truck or old Chevy would speed by.
At first the cat calls scared me. The roads I ran on were isolated...a scary place for a young girl. Add a car full of men to that lonely patch of roadway and you've got a perfect combination for some serious paranoia. I got over the fear.
In my mid 20's I became hostile to the cat calls and the whistles. I was tired of not being able to walk down the street without some guy calling out to me from his car making suggestions about my body or my sexuality. I fought back. I would yell back at them. My first reaction was to suggest they do something to themselves with an inanimate object. Or I would shoot back a sign of radical female independence using one of my fingers held up high in the air. A woman I met in Santa Fe was also a runner. She too was tired of the horns, the whistles and the constant comment from the construction workers when she ran in her neighborhood. She had a tee shirt that was screen printed with a photo of our Lady of Guadalupe on it. She decided to wear that tee when she ran and the cat calls, whistles and horns stopped dead. I guess when a woman wears a religious symbol on her chest it isn't as easy to sexualize her.
Despite my overt objections, the cat calls and whistles continued into my 30's. During the work day my friends and I would take walks around the block to ease the stress of working. We would walk in groups on the sidewalks. We discovered there is no strength in numbers when it comes to a car horn. The honks continued. Some of us would be agitated by them, others would laugh.
Now that I am in my 40's the cat calls and whistles have begun to subside. Occasionally when I am out running I will hear a single car horn. Last week I was walking downtown. I was enjoying the Summer day and minding my own business when an older man, walking towards me, said "Good Morning Gorgeous."
Hmmm. All kinds of thoughts instantly ran through my head about how to handle this situation. But I went with the first thought I had. I thanked him.
He made my day. I took his gesture as a compliment. The evolution of a cat call, whistle or honking horn has officially come full circle in my world.
I'm not a woman -- I'm about as male as male can get. So thank goodness you came to the conclusion you did...
Trust me.. if you are getting these calls and whistles, they ARE compliments!
Posted by: Johnny | February 10, 2009 at 05:50 PM