To think that wolf whistling wasn't such a bad thing?

And back on the good old days of blatant misogyny, if a woman dared to bite back after being groped or harassed then invariably she was the one who was thrown out of the bar/club or given abuse in the street

I mean... what is she supposed to say? If she didn't find it threatening or awkward is she meant to lie?

I think there's a lot of romanticising going on. Women who think like Lumley, in their minds eye sashaying down the street like Jessica Rabbit leaving a trail of slack jawed (hot) builders falling off their ladders because they can't take their eyes off them. Then if a man goes too far, they're all Mae West, tough and wise cracking, putting them in their place to a round of applause and respect from all on lookers. They're tropes we are all familiar with, and with the right tint of rose on the glasses the every day inappropriate behaviour of unpleasant men can be elevated to support the fantasy.

Yep, her comments have a real luxury belief feel about them, as well as a must please the men folk and not make a fuss vibe.

What proportion of incidents in the ‘good old days’ of men harassing women with unwanted touching does JL think were followed by the woman actually slapping the man and the man backing down? A pretty small minority I reckon. Women would be aware of the threat that he would hit back (if a stranger in a public place), get them sacked (in the workplace) and a lot of the time ‘handling themselves’ just meant gritting their teeth and enduring it.

It is so disappointing and I think far less of her myself now too.

One thing if she was claiming she herself enjoys creepy predatory weirdos making noises at her - bizarre and sad, but each to their own - but to try to pretend she believes most women felt the same is gross.

I remember how horrified my mother was at such behaviour, and she was born in the 50s, my gran too found it utterly disgusting. I never knew anyone who was fine with it, but I suppose there must have been a few.

The reality is that plenty of women always absolutely loathed creepy greasy men harassin them, but there are always women who will do anything to get a pat on the head from a man, and that includes pretending they don't know how distressing many women throughout history have always found this sort of creepy behaviour.

It's not about whether some women liked it or not. It's the fact that it didn't make a damn difference what we thought about it. It's the fact that our preferences in the matter were so utterly irrelevant

This. So cogently expressed.

Were you children at the time, like many on this thread have said they were when they were first wolf whistled? Any thoughts on when it's directed at children? Still harmless if the recipient is 12? 14? 16? Where is the cut off that makes it harmless fun?

I think its fair to say there are certain triggers that these types of men respond to like pavlovian dogs. These typically include school uniforms, work out gear, summer clothes and certain body shapes, hair colours and styles. I think its reasonable to say that a woman is more likely to be noticed by them dressed up in her going out clothes than she is wrapped up in an anorak. Just as she's more likely to be noticed by non predatory men and other women, because she's more visible dressed up than not. But, so what? The fact that these men behave inappropriately in response to some stimulus and not others is irrelevant to whether they should be doing it or not.

I was the 90s really but that was bad enough.

I vividly remember how awful a lot of men were. Thankfully, like with racism and ableism, the majority of us are more educated now.

This really does make me think less of her. That such a successful woman is bouyed by pathetic attention from random no-marks. Have some fucking self-esteem!

I'm with Joanna Lumley.
My friends and myself used to argue who was getting the whistle. We were all born in the 50s.
Harmless fun .
No one touched us.. it was just walking past building sites / factories etc

No, I don’t think she’s right. She is a confident woman who could deal with it in her own way. Not everyone is, and they shouldn’t have to be.

Indeed.

No she's completely wrong and minimising sexual assault.

Yep, that school uniform I wore, and those jeans and jumpers I dressed in most days showed the creepy sleazebags I was asking for it. Serves me right, really.

Wow.
Really?

I looked up the interview to see more of the context: It's interesting that she says she's not one for self reflection and that she values politeness. Alternating between that and slapping seems to have been her response:

"It is, she says, a very different age in so many ways. In “the olden days – I like the word ‘olden’,” she says, no more than everybody, she was the object of sexist behaviour.
“People would go, ‘Oh, you’re lovely, darling’. But I never minded people wolf-whistling. I always thought that was tremendous. You’d go – mock simper – ‘Oh, thank you so much, that’s lovely’. Nobody was ever insulted by that. But I think we were a little bit tougher then. Somebody put their hand on your leg, you didn’t feel affronted and report it. You’d give them a slap.
“And people now say, oh, you don’t understand. Well, we do understand because there were Harvey Weinsteins aplenty. I think there still are, and they’re absolutely everywhere. Office wolves, or whatever you want to call them.” She laughs. Such an archaic expression.
People <a class="break-all" href="https://archive.ph/o/ceetl/www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/01/24/civil-servants-strike-return-to-office/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">working from home has solved that problem. “Bless them… I think that sounds nicer than it actually is. You’d almost rather an office wolf because then at least you can say to Muriel who’s in accounts, isn’t he dreadful? At least you have a bit of conversation.”

Here is a link to the archived article: archive.ph/ceetl#selection-3299.0-3336.0

I didn't mind it at one time, then I got a bit older and realised how disgusting it was that it was normal for men to whistle at under age girls in their school uniform. I learnt of the sexual threat men posed to women and girls and started to find it intimidating rather than complementary.
Naive 14 year old me took it as a complement, adult me finds it vile and is happy my children are growing up I'm a generation where sexual assault and intimidation isn't acceptable.

She's now at the top of a very prestigious profession, worth a fortune. You needed that kind of self-worth and bravery to get on in those days

So a young girl who didn't have the confidence to call out sexual assault has no self worth? WTF...... this thread is eye opening and not in a good way

It might have made "you" laugh. It made me cringe with embarrassment and disgust.

Honestly, this is tedious at this point.

Oh, you're ok with it? Good for you.

Many women and girls aren't ok with it. Should they be forced to endure it because you derive your self-esteem from random men yelling at you in the street?

I don't particularly care if certain women think it's flattering or makes them feel good-fine. I think it's odd, but it's not my circus, not my monkeys.

I do care if a prominent public figure uses their platform to say that women and girls should just toughen up because she thinks it's no big deal. Good for JL, I guess, who has never been in the position of having to endure a man's sexual harassment or face losing her job that she depends on to feed her kids.

It's spectacularly out of touch.

As far as "women need to toughen up," why is it always women that need to change to accommodate men's poor behaviour? Why can't the men simply choose to not exhibit such nasty behaviour in the first place?

In the past, women didn't deal with it so much as put up with it. There's a huge difference between women getting on because that's just how things are and actually enjoying it.

Women, even to this day, are fed the lie that it's a compliment. If they don't like it, they're being too sensitive and behaving like one of those women.

So, because men are no longer able to sexually harass women and make them feel uncomfortable without repercussion, they now no longer feel comfortable looking at women? Good. I wouldn't want those type of men looking at women or feeling comfortable anywhere, to be honest.

Good, decent men have no desire to wolf whistle or cat call women. Only the men who view women as their inferior and who want to remind women that they they believe they're above them in the pecking order.

Because it made you laugh, back in the day!

No, that is quite obviously not what I’m saying. Women are never responsible for men’s behaviour, which is what I’ve been saying throughout this thread.
I was calling out the ridiculousness of thinking it was a funny anecdote.

Are you saying it was that woman's responsibility to deal with that man in such a way that he would never, ever dare to do that to anyone again? Because it sounds like that's what you're suggesting...
The shitness of men is not my responsibility. I'll call it out and deal with it how and when I see fit. But I won't take offence where I don't feel offended. This lady sounds like she dealt with it brilliantly in my opinion. What's wrong with the picture in yours?