The Pitt News: Pitt students condemn catcalling

https://pittnews.com/article/127683/arts-and-entertainment/pitt-students-condemn-catcalling/

Pitt students condemn catcalling
Joanna Li | Staff Writer
February 14, 2018

As a 12-year-old, Sophia Marshall stepped out of the house feeling confident in the
outfit she had picked out that morning. As she waited for a friend by the local high
school, she heard a sharp whistle from out of the window of a passing car — her
first experience with catcalling.

Marshall, now a junior business administration major at Pitt, recalled feeling conflicted at the time — a mix of validation and violation.  It wasn’t until she came to college that the instances of catcalling became more frequent for Marshall — happening on the bus, her nightly walk home in Central Oakland and during her summer abroad in Paris — causing her to feel fed up.
“I’m not your baby, I’m not your honey,” Marshall said. “You don’t know me.”
According to a Cornell study, 85 percent of women experience street harassment before age 17 — and some women in Oakland are in that majority. Walking in groups of three or more, carrying pepper spray at all times and knowing a few self-defense techniques are all tips in the back of the minds of some women who have experienced street harassment at Pitt.

Marie Skoczylas, a visiting instructor in the Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies
Program, offers a definition of catcalling and its effects.
“Catcalling is singling out a target for sexual objectification and commenting publicly on
that person’s appearance,” Skoczylas said. “It requires a sense of entitlement to pull a
stranger into that kind of situation, knowing the advance may well be unwelcome and
insulting.”

Catcalling is part of the larger issue of street harassment. According to “Stop Street
Harassment” — a nonprofit organization focusing on ending gender-based street
harassment — street harassment can range from unwanted whistling to sexual assault. As Skoczylas explains, there’s a fine line between a pleasant interaction with compliments and harassing words that are disrespectful in nature.
“Rather than taking the route of trying to criminalize behavior, I think we need to focus on a cultural shift, changing attitudes so that we see each other as individuals to be respected rather than objects to harass,” Skoczylas said.
Sophomore finance major Casey Maher experienced catcalling in Oakland one night in
August. She walked to upper campus to meet with friends to watch a movie, but a friend
made a last-minute cancellation. Maher found herself alone in an unfamiliar place.
“Some guys pulled up next to me in a car and started yelling things out the window, like,
‘hey girl, get in the car, let us give you a ride,’” Maher said. “It made me feel really
uncomfortable and I had my hand on my phone to call the police.”

Carolyn Helenski, a sophomore communication science and disorders major, has
experienced catcalling in multiple cities. She recalls an instance with her mom in
Philadelphia that was particularly memorable, saying it was very degrading.
“One time I was in Philly with my mom for the afternoon, and a young guy was with his
friends on the street,” Helenski said. “When my mom and I walked by he said, ‘look at that nice, tight pussy in those pants.’’’
In this uncomfortable position, Helenski had an urge to stand up to the man, but her mom told her to act as if nothing had happened and just continue walking.
“Catcalling isn’t pretty when someone is trying to embarrass or harass you,” Helenski said.
“I went to say something, but [my mom] told me to just keep walking — which frustrated
me because a woman I look up to more than anyone didn’t feel comfortable standing up for herself or me.”

Other women in Oakland have experienced harassment from older men, not just fellow
college students.  Close Morgan, a junior who asked her last name be omitted for privacy, was walking back from her class in the Chevron Science Center when she stumbled into one such case as she passed a few construction workers on the sidewalk.
“As I got closer to them, I noticed that the one guy was staring at me,” she said. “Right as I
walked by, the guy who had been looking at me a little too long turned his head and said
‘hey beautiful,’ and watched me as I kept walking down the street.”
Morgan said she didn’t think much of the situation — she just smiled and continued
walking down O’Hara Street to Fifth Avenue, enjoying the compliment she was given.
“What was initially nice became super creepy when I was stopped at the crosswalk by
Thackeray,” Morgan said. “The same man popped his head out of the passenger side of a
white pickup truck and said, for the second time, ‘hey beautiful’ as his buddy kept driving.”
To avoid another encounter with the man, Morgan ended up taking the longest route
possible to get to her destination — an inconvenience for her to feel safe.
While Marshall continues to take her chances striking up conversations with strangers, she said she draws the line between friendliness and street harassment at a stranger’s ability to read context clues on a situation.
“I’m not trying to say that no one should talk to anybody else,” Marshall said. “I am saying that you need to respect my privacy, and that includes no shouting, no name calling.”
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Street Harassers in Washington, D.C. and Maryland are Democrats

It has become increasingly clear to me that the majority of street harassers, sexual predators and workplace harassers in the State of Maryland are Democrats.  Maryland and Washington, D.C. have been known for decades as being the bloc of Democratic voters which is often why national candidates do not heavily campaign in these areas.  The last election on the state level was an upset as Marylanders became increasing fed up with Democrat’s false promises, criminals and illegal aliens receiving more rights and benefits than law abiding citizens.  As I write this, it was not intended to be a political piece and this is my opinion based on observation.  However, I do feel the need to shed light on the blatant hypocrisy of Democrats in Maryland.  Most Black male “Christian” street harassers are the beneficiaries of the Democratic vote.  BLM, the majority of whom are black “Christians”, with their false claims to support Muslims are also Democrats.  I do not claim that all Democrats are bad, but one can easily observe that those who engage in this awful conduct are of that political party.

Of course, there are nice, middle class and even wealthy areas in Maryland, but many of these citizens’ conduct is not consistent with what a real suburb is.  Maryland is what can be easily seen as a false suburb, the obvious degenerate urban area is the City of Baltimore which has been blighted for years and each time there is gentrification ghetto black “Christians” are pushed into the suburbs of Baltimore County, Howard County and Anne Arundel County via Section 8 housing and other welfare programs. The same has occurred with certain parts of Washington, D.C., where gentrification pushed undereducated, low wage black workers who comprise the majority of street harassers in Prince George’s County, Maryland.  This has a two-fold effect (1) those middle and upper class blacks become the victims, not just of street harassment but other crimes by vagrant blacks; (2) the façade of conservatism is shattered as most foul-mouthed, tail-chasing, bigoted Democrat birthers of out of wedlock children, coddle their black “Christian” sons who grow in their belief of entitlement without labor, as well as the right to accost, jump in a black woman’s face, and street harass because of some unbeknownst expectation supported by the false belief that women and girls (total strangers mind you) are property for them to have at their leisure.  Yet, they like to purport how advanced “Christians” are to Muslims, and how Muslim women are oppressed.  In Maryland, it is black “Christians” who vote Democrat and certain trashy whites who oppress and street harass Muslim women in their daily lives.  From the grocer, the post office, to the park, Sunni Muslim women are mocked, street harassed and accosted by those who claim belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ.  This includes black “Christian” females who attack, molest, accost and verbally abuse Sunni Muslim Black American women (members of their own race) on a daily basis.  These are the bloc of Democratic voters along I-95 and the Baltimore Washington Parkway (295) suburbs of Maryland.  These types of people are not solely black but a lot of whites who vote Democrat are not only rude, ill-mannered (attempt to run women, especially Sunni Muslim ones off the road and jump in black women’s faces), low-level vagabonds are racist as well.  So, when did being a Democrat translate to being a “Christian” who is a purveyor of mockery and an attack of all women, when so many claim to have (Christian) religious and democratic values?  I do not have the answer but understand that is today’s standard among them.

The reality is that most street harassers, aside from being uneducated, from the inner cities, slums and trailer parks and other rural truckers in Maryland have been the majority new face of the Democratic vote and the long-lasting face of street harassment in the State of Maryland.