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

[NovemberMorn]

Joanna Lumley has just given an interview in which she says..."I never minded wolf whistling, I always thought it was tremendous".

She also said... "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.”

Do you think she is right?

I can see where she’s coming from, but I don’t think any woman who wasn’t around to actually experience it can give a valid opinion.

Yes we had to put up with little leg touches, wolf whistles etc, but men on the whole felt safer to me. There was some kind of man code where men would check you were ok if they could see another man coming on to you. You knew you could tell any man in the pub that you’d just been touched inappropriately and all the other men would go beat up the perpetrator. Everyone knew what the rules were and weren’t.

No you were right the first time, I was being sarcastic😊

Wow

Minimising both sexual abuse and also racism on Holocaust Memorial Day

Thank you for showing everyone who you are.

Off you pop now Donald.

Can't get too worked up about it tbh.

I'm from a generation where most of my female friends are struggling to date because British men refuse to make any kind of move unless you literally jump into bed with them first - we don't recognise this apparent hellscape of men constantly groping us out of the blue but maybe me and my friends are just ugly

Not every woman thinks the same!

You don’t get to shut down every point of view by bringing the holocaust into it, especially when it couldn’t be more irrelevant. It makes you look silly.

I wasnt going to answer you, you're actually not worthy of a reply but you really are pathetic, twisting words, and name calling, so childish, have a nice evening

How are comments minimising racism not relevant on Holocaust Memorial Day?

Some people might argue water isn't wet I suppose but it doesn't make it true.

It was never OK.

Wolf whistling basically reinforced the idea that public spaces were male territory and women were there to be appraised by men on the only thing that counted, their physical attractiveness to men.

I'm not going to say I was traumatised for life by having blokes whistle at me, but it was not 'OK' and it's a good thing that it is no longer socially acceptable, whatever Joanna Lumley thinks.

I cringe when I see women describing how much they enjoyed the whistles and comments. Oh it was just harmless fun, flattering, women these days need to lighten up etc
Do you realise that those men catcalling you and giving you warm fuzzy feelings (oooh they find me attractive, oooh they fancy me), were also leering and whistling at 11 year old schoolgirls? Are you still feeling flattered by random creepy paedos finding you attractive?
Strangely enough when I left school (and lost the uniform) it stopped but then went in another direction. My first jobs were in workplaces where I was the only female. The office/staff room was plastered with page 3 girls and other soft porn magazine photos.
By this point my appearance was alternative/tomboyish and the men would point at the tit pics and say 'why can't you look like that?'
I was 15/16 and it was gross, creepy and uncomfortable, but I just had to put up with it.

What I find bizarre is how so many adult men publicly and openly leered at, and made sexual comments to 10, 11, 12 year old girls-and it was considered normal. These days they would be considered paedophiles/sex offenders.
So my question is- have these men on building sites drastically changed in 50 years? Or are sites still full of vile creeps that are attracted to under-aged girls but just have to keep their urges hidden?

I think that's for the best really. No need to engage further when you've shown everyone who you are so quickly.

Enjoy your evening too.

What comments that minimised racism? I genuinely can’t see them. You are the only person I can see bringing racism into this.

I never miminised racism, you indicated that the 90s was full of horrible racist men, while it could have been, I personally didnt experience it much then or now but thats not to say it didnt exist, well, newsflash
for you, racism is still very much alive in 2025, and disgusting men are still going about their business, people dont change...so don't dare bring up holocaust because it makes you look ignorant and petty.

Well I guess it's better than being called an ugly cunt.

I agree with Joanna to some extent. I never had an issue with being bothered by wolf whistling. It always seemed like harmless fun, and it was easy to just ignore/walk on by if you weren't interested. I completely understand why some people may not like it, but I don't think it's always such a heinous crime.

It's better to be slapped than to be punched unconscious but it's a perfectly reasonable stance to say both are unacceptable.

What about it being done to school girls? Thoughts on how prevalent that has been particularly in the past? Do you still think it's harmless in those cases?

Then perhaps read back to the post at 17.00

I didn't mock or was sarcastic about anyone else's experience in years gone by. I merely shared my own. Fairycakes then appeared question my experience and mocked it sarcastically. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and they came back and confirmed their post was sarcastic about my experience in the 90s

You don't get to be sarcastic about racism 30 odd years ago to a person of colour and not expect a reaction. The same applies for SA survivors of which I'm one and have shared on here previously.

Fairycakes can't take the piss and then cry hard done by when they were the one who started it in the first place.

No. I don't agree with schoolgirls, although it certainly happened to me (and cars beeping, etc) from about 13-14+. It's absolutely not right, but I never personally felt unsafe (and sometimes it was a confidence boost). Looking back, I can absolutely understand why it was unacceptable, but times were different then, and I can only reflect on how I felt in the moment. I felt that men would back off/stop if you told them to - as naive as that may sound now.

No it’s not a heinous crime and no one has said it was, it was however, everyday sexism and misogyny.

I don’t need any man to “harmless” fun for anyone.

Im glad you agree it's unacceptable to wolf whistle at children.

But do you think that the men who wolf whistled schoolgirls of 13/14 were all completely different men to the ones who wolf whistled adult women?

They weren't.

They were part of the general culture of it being acceptable for men to draw attention to female bodies in a public space.

That's why it's not harmless as a general behaviour, even if the specific recipient isn't bothered.

It represents and breeds male entitlement and the expectation that girls and women should accept / be flattered by / tolerate / humour / be grateful for unsolicited male attention. And above all, not 'make a fuss'.

You were sarcastic about my experience, the comment was directed at my past not in general.

You can attempt to backtrack now its dawning on you but too late I'm afraid.

Yes of course who has experienced racism reminding you not to minimise racism especially not on Holocaust Memorial Day is the petty and ignorant one. Beggars belief.

I do not wish to engage further with someone like you.

I understand your viewpoint. I'm just stating how it was for me in my lived experience. For me, wolf whistling wasn’t a huge issue and felt more like an extension of banter at the time, but I do understand the wider implications.

I say this as someone who was violently raped aged 18, but not as a result of wolf whistling, but as a result of being groomed. The person who raped me was evil, but I don't believe every man who has wolf whistled at someone is.

You can quote me all you want but then that means you have to engage with me and you don't want that, and frankly I don't want that either so off you go and start a fight with someone else, I'm not interested 😘😘

How old are you? I’m married with children, but I happily flirted with and dated men in my 20s and early 30s. It wasn’t a hell scape at all, but there were lecherous men. They were definitely looked down on by both sexes.

No-one in my extended circle of friends struggled to make moves on people they found attractive. There was fun and romance, pleasurable sex was enjoyed, people dated and had relationships and pretty much all are now married or in long term relationships.

Where do you live that the men don’t know how to talk to woman unless they have catcalled them? A grown man that can’t communicate his interest or attraction in a normal way would be a total turn off!

No. She reminds me of Geena Davis’ character in Blink Twice.