Did women used to enjoy being catcalled?

I didn't mind just a whistle.
Actual comments were horrible.

However when pp's start on about the 70's being sexist I agree it was but it was a lot less dangerous imo.
Online porn, choking during sex, stalking and spiked drinks. I'm a lot more scared of men now.

It used to make me smile. There was a difference then to how men leer at woman now.

Exactly this. We put up with all manner of shite. Some of it irritating. Some of it embarrassing. Some of it terrifying.

I’m 62 and the first time I was catcalled, it was a neighbour who knew my age. I was 12.

This tells you all you need to know about guys who do it.

No, I hated it & dreaded having to walk past a building site or groups of workmen. If you didn't respond or said anything to reject the comments, it only made it worse with their comments. I think it was so acceptable at the time, part of the culture. They couldn't grasp that many women didn't enjoy it & felt degraded by it. It went along with page 3, Pirrelli calenders, Miss World & the like.

Totally agree. It was about belittling women. Urgh.

My mum is in her 80s and she said she absolutely loved it when she was younger. I had it a few times in my late teens/early 20s and have to say I liked it too. Nearly always made me smile.

Grew up in Poland where boys are cold and do not show any appreciation. At 15, me and friends were delighted on a school trip to Italy that boys were cat calling. We felt really attractive. 🤦🏻‍♀️ Now I'm grown up, I feel a tinge of danger when it happens...

@Whysler - no, it was not "more playful or tongue in cheek, back in the day". At all.

I’m in my 40’s.
Hated it.
Made me feel uncomfortable at best, unsafe at worst

Yes! I have women in my family (of a certain age) say they miss it. Maybe it was done tongue in cheek back in the day? It was more playful? No clue

But whenever it happens to me I am genuinely uncomfortable. It happened to me recently outside Waitrose in Camden - it felt aggressive and was mortifying.

But I’ve had a bad encounter in the past where a old-ish man exclaimed something about my looks and started walking towards me only to be physically restrained by his two younger companions. It was outside King’s X, my first week of university and I was terrified. So detest men acting this way.

If it happened I hated it.

I did enjoy it up til I was about 17, which says a lot about the men doing it.

I’m not quite 55 but I am old enough to remember when cat calling was normal.

From my perspective there was usually a bit of cognitive dissonance going on with it. Personally it made me feel uncomfortable at a really instinctive level but because a lot of women wore it as a badge of honour you sort of felt it was something you ought to want.

The corollary to cat calling is this horrible afterburn which a lot of men used to do whereby if you didn’t smile or if you responded negatively they would shout: “.Youre ugly anyway.” I remember when I was about 18 being told in front of a big group of people that I wasn’t good looking enough to be a Page 3 girl (by a bloke who was no oil painting himself). Because I had been talking about how sexist Page 3 was.

I remember the feeling of shame and embarrassment that came over me and I just blustered and giggled in order not to look like an angry feminist. After he left there was a creeping sense of fury at myself and the fact that I hadn’t called him on it.

The worst thing about cat calling for me is that it denied you your ability to have a comeback or to put your own side of the story on record. I never felt frightened by it, it just made me feel like I was something that existed purely for men to project their primitive instincts onto.

I’m so glad it’s no longer acceptable.

I was a teenager in the 60's and no I didn't enjoy the behaviour but it didn't bother me or even notice it particularly. If its just whistling or yelling from a building site then on a busy street it was kind of part of the background noise. My parents taught us that we were entitled to our space in the world and didn't have to put up with the bad manners of others but I do agree that we also had to be streetwise. What i do remember is when the "Good Manners" building sites came into being. Construction companies signed up to a charter of no swearing, no loud music, no whistles and cat calls and care over dust and dirt, vehicle parking and so on. From some quarters the no swearing and catcalls thing was seen as a fuss about nothing.

I'm actually finding it quite depressing the amount of women who find it a compliment.

A compliment is 'l like your dress' or 'you're really funny' or 'your new haircut looks great' - it is not getting heckled by complete strangers in the street. Those men don't give two shits what you look like, it's not intended to be flattering or a reflection of how attractive you are, it's intended to be aggressive and intimidating.

The reason they do it to younger women more than older ones is because it's easier to intimidate a young women on her own, it's not just because young women are better looking. Bloody hell.

Although it didn't happen often it wasn't really very nice.

The considerate contractor scheme helped to some degree.

I'm over 55
I was never given any attention from men at all ( not that pretty , not that confident etc) and once I did hear a whistle from a building site in the distance ( might not even have been for me) and it did give me a moments ' oh, someone does think I'm ok' but it didn't upset me or faze me ( this must have been around 1983?) i just carried on walking. Busy area so didn't feel threatened or anything.
Never happened before or since though.
I can see why it doesn't happen now, but there are much worse things happen to people than this years ago and today I would probably be offended on someone else's behalf if I heard them being cat called or whistled at.
I've never experienced any kind of sexual harassment at work , but start a thread on it on here and the stories are awful, so I know I've been lucky not to have had any of this either :(

It never bothered me, I felt indifferent to it. I’m 53.

I think as a young teen I was a bit flattered-didn't know any better!

But always combined with feeling that you had to smile lest insults followed.

That's just disgusting isn't it?

Feeling the need to "be kind" to blokes that were at least old enough to be your dad leering at you!

There used to be a lot of catcalling still in the early 2000s especially in certain areas of the country. Now men aren't as brazen but you still get the odd unsolicited comment, they are just less likely to shout it. I am not particularly young but also not quite old yet and have noticed that the men who tend to engage in this harassment are more likely now to just stare continuously, they are often men who have cone here from other places like the middle east so a culture that is even worse for women. I have had it a few times where I've been waiting for a train and one of these men are standing near me just staring, sometimes muttering things under their breath.

No.

It's fucking obscene grown men catcalling a 13 year old.

Had this all the way to my mid 20s. It's intimidating and embarrassing.

I thought I got whistled at the other day. Was walking on air, turns out he was calling his dog . I'm 65.x

I hated it; it happened to me in the 80s and I remember the feeling of threat and the anxiety it caused. Groups of men together were often aggressive and frightening. A friend of mine shared a stupid post on Facebook about women enjoying wolf whistles back in the day, but I can say I don't need attention from men to validate my existence. In my experience cat calls, wolf whistling are harassment and can lead to assault. I'm glad it seems to have stopped; my husband is in the construction industry and they are warned not to do this.

i grew up in a village
then went to london at 19
if there was any whistling i probably was wearing my walkman!
either that or didnt put two and two together but genuinely wouldnt have minded - i dont recall any
not a feminist but i knew about them and how they supposedly would refuse to have the door opened for them!
as we are saying our ages, i am 58.