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 do think that some men feel so constrained nowadays, they are scared to even look at a woman

Poor men. It's so sad. I do hope you get picked soon.

That's the most messed up convoluted logic I've ever heard 😂 so cause us evil naughty women won't let the big boys touch us any more it's driven them to look at depraved stuff online (and yes to me things like double a*al is depraved and I highly doubt any woman enjoys it)

YABU. For every woman who likes the crass validation of a random bloke indicating he finds her sexually attractive, there are many women (and girls) who are embarrassed by it, who find it disturbing for men to be loudly advertising that they are sexually attracted to them, and who actually find it quite threatening. I used to be so intimidated by groups of men doing this when I was alone. Interestingly it didn't happen so often after I joined the sixth form and didn't wear school uniform any more 🤢

Not every woman or girl who is subjected to this, or to the wandering hand on their thigh, is confident enough to speak up. Nor should they have to. Lots of us were panicked and frozen and just prayed it would stop.

I can't imagine for the life of me why any woman would advocate for society to accept this behaviour from men. Really disappointed in JL.

As for the "availability" of it you have heard of that Little thing called the Internet 😂smh

Yes I used to enjoy it but I know I’m not allowed to say that.

You can say what you want, who is going to stop you? They may form a certain opinion of you based on what you say, but you’re still allowed to say it.
Who has been telling you that you’re not allowed to say it?

Fwiw as a teenager I loved being wolf whistled at. But if i had a daughter I'd want to bring her up not to crave validation on a superficial level.

By that line of thinking (which is not my line of thinking), would you blame yourself if we were attacked while your midriff is on display? Would you expect the police to defend you, or are you asking for whatever you get?? And following your line of thought to it's end - you are not safe exposing your midriff, or any skin really, as it incites male violence.

Your thinking is very very flawed, and sad

Of all the forms of sexual harassment, wolf whistling was the one I minded least but it was still unwelcome and still sexual harassment.

I absolutely hated it and am glad it’s deemed in the main unacceptable now. Women that need validation from creeps in the street need their heads examining.

Oh come on OP don't be disingenuous

Back in the day not everyone had smart phones. Widescale availability of the Internet has resulted in increased porn use much more than the change in attitudes to wolf whistling

And also, wolf whistling goes hand in hand with other comments, and wolf whistling to young (teen and pre teen girls).

Maybe some women learned to develop a thick skin due to the prevalence of Perry bustards. But many other women learned to avoid situations that they had every right to be in (walking past building sites etc), many women are scared to stand up for themselves due to the possible repercussions, many women learned to put up with sexual harassment, assaults and abuse because they didn't want to 'make a fuss'.

I am from an era of wolf whistling and am glad that young women don't have to eb Subject to unwanted 'compliments' on their body. If they do crave the validation of creepy men, there are plenty of online / safer ways of inviting this

I hate it and I always have. Is it too much to ask to just be left alone to go about your day?! It’s not a compliment to me.

You can say it as loud as you want to.😁
I personally think some women overact.
A wolf whistle never harmed anyone, unless the bloke whistling was so distracted he fell of the ladder.

Actually, in RL, JL is quite reserved and modest.

Another one? IIRC she said it a few years ago as well.

Where did I say it was OK to touch a woman uninvited?

Interesting - for me it was just background noise. Not worthy of comment or notice. I think all my friends felt that way too. We just thought they were irrelevant prats.

Oh ffs stop shaming people for having a thought! You’re just as bad! Women can’t even say or think or feel anything anymore without being shamed and processed and labelled a pick me or a what ever the fuck it is you decide makes them less than YOU today. Just stop! Ffs! Can you not just be you and let other women just be them because this whole pick me shite (and it is shite, it reeeaaallly is shite) is literally turning the pick me call out women into the pick mes! Oh pick me! I know what a pick me is. I hate puck mes. Pick me for hating pick mes! fuck me!!!
See. The. Irony. Honest to fuck, can we just let women be women! Please!! Enough! I will honest die on the hill of this shit! Enough!

The 1970s is a bygone era and the attitudes that prevailed then belong there .. firmly in the past.
Men that shout obscenities at girls/women are scum.

No, I won't stop calling out misogyny and dick pandering.

I like Joanna ,but sometimes I think she is a little stuck in the past with rosy covered glasses! Its so "lovely" to be embarassed when going to work! Years ago my Nans friend was pregnant, and she crossed the street to avoid workmen. and fell over in a hole on the other side .lost her baby! Recently I was cheered by a sign on the building site, saying that inappropriate behaviour would not be tolerated ,and result in instant dismissal from the site !

I agree...is a wolf whistle an obscenity?

Wolf whistling was always irritating and designed to annoy and embarrass women. It was never a compliment.

You linked groping in with wolf whistling

As if men haven't felt free to do what they want, when they want, since the dawn of time.

However if the Internet was available during this magical period of time when men merely whistled and complimented women, and if they touched a woman then they would get a smack, I guarantee that porn would have been just as big a problem.

Rape convictions in the 90s were practically non existent, 'lad mags' were everywhere, so were porn magazines, page 3 girls, papers doing countdowns of 15 year old actresses until they day they were legal, even semi naked women on beer cans, marital rape being absolutely fine (and not recognised as rape), sexual harrassment at work being absolutely fine.... I could go on and on.

You're deluded if you think, had the technology been available then, that porn wouldn't have been an even bigger issue.

Men thinking they can do what the fuck they want starts with them testing boundries of what's acceptable, which starts with 'innocent' things like objectifying women by whistling at them.