How do you feel about being whistled at on the street?

[TheBolans]

Do you find it a compliment or a form of harassment?

I saw a discussion with a woman saying people need to get a grip if it bothers them because whistling is harmless. I think if I got the odd whistle every now again at this age, I wouldn’t mind, but back when I was a teenager/early 20s I didn’t like it. It was usually never just whistling. It’s usually shouting crude comments too and so found it degrading and embarrassing. But some seem to think it should be taken as a compliment

When I was younger it was constant and I hated it. It made me feel mortified and like a piece of meat.

Now I’m older and confident I’d just find it amusing - hasn’t happened for a while though. And the kind of men who do this are generally misogynistic Neanderthals so it’s hardly a compliment!

It was degrading and I'm glad it's now a crime. As you said, it was never just a whistle but lots of disgusting comments came with it. And jeers. Oh my gawd, the jeers and the leers.

It's not harmless. It's an imposition, forcing themselves onto the woman's attention because they feel entitled to it.

Recently I felt guilty! It was definitely aimed at me as no one else around and they commented on my long hair - I didn't dare turn about as I'm 59 and they'd have been greatly disappointed!

It’s never acceptable behaviour.

I hated it when younger and now I just think fuck off.

It's not ok.

I was glad I aged out of it. I hated it when I was young.

It happened most when I was under 16- so I didn't see it as 'harmless'. More intimidating and meant to be.

It was never just a whistle though, it was loud horn beeping and shouting which often made me jump. I still get it sometimes now when running, I always have headphones in but the horns break through. Someone did it to me a few weeks ago in a stationary car right next to me, made me jump out of my skin.

I don’t know if men ever think this behaviour is endearing in some way, or attractive. I don’t know what they think really but it’s just embarrassing.

When i was younger i didnt like the idea, now that im older i dont mind it and take it as a compliment.
A couple of years ago we had a major house builder near to where i live, it was summer time and certainly was not short of attention during that time

It really used to intimidate me when I was younger. Now I'm in my thirties it rarely happens thankfully. Disturbing to recall how many grown men were so comfortable harassing an unconfident, uncomfortable female child.

I’m so glad people agree with me, I left a comment of the woman’s video I saw but all of the comments on it were saying it’s a compliment and someone told me to get a grip and that back in the 80s women were having their bra straps snapped and just got on with it. It’s sad to see so many women agreeing with that

I had a conversation with my Mum earlier this year in which she was shocked when I said that if the stereotypical builder on a site whistled at me I’d report it, because ‘in my day it was a compliment’.

It’s not for me that I’d report it. I’m a grown Woman who is unintimidated and unafraid to tell such a lout to fuck off myself. It’s for the next Woman or Girl to come along the road, who might be more vulnerable or have a history that makes such an intrusion or demand for attention frightening.

I have a (very misogynistic, female!) colleague who got whistled by some scum on
a building site when she was a few months postpartum. She said she never felt more attractive! 🤮 In her own words ‘women should stop getting offended and take it in the spirit it’s meant’.

Alarmingly, she works in a girls’ school and thinks girls secretly like it when they get sexually harassed. 😳

I hated it then and I hate it now (not that it’s happened to me for some time).

Anyone who considers it a compliment is full of ingrained misogyny. Its basically a tacit way of saying “I have the right to stand in judgment over you and I judge you fuckable and I don’t care if that makes you uncomfortable, I’m going to do it anyway.”

When I was younger and cat called if I did tell them to fuck off it just seemed to encourage them and make them worse. I really hate men who whistle and jeer. That person mentioned above who thinks it's a compliment is a misguided fool.

I have never been whistled at, which I feel must mean I'm extremely unattractive 😂

I thought whistling at women in the street had, thankfully, died a death.
Unfortunately there are still idiots who think it's fun to shout, quite often unintelligible stuff, out of their car windows at women as they are speeding past.

Whistling at and shouting at women in the street is just so obviously a power thing. In reality nothing complimentary about it.
If some women think it's a compliment then they must be exceedingly needy and lacking in self confidence if they are so desperate for the attention of men.

Edited to say sorry @ShannonMacFarland I quoted you by mistake and can't edit the quote out.

I am glad that most here hate it. It’s never a compliment. It’s powerplay and designed to indirectly humiliate women. I hated it when young. Now, I would challenge them. It needs to stop.

Thank goodness most on this thread aren’t laughing about what a compliment it is, and saying how uptight those of us who dislike it are. These threads often attract those types.

Exactly. I challenge it now for my daughter and her generation.

When I was younger it never bothered me at all to be honest. I never gave it a second thought. Was neither flattered by it or disgusted by it.

I don't get wolf whistled or cat called now (in my 50's) but I have been witness to it when walking down the street with my DD (20). She has long blonde hair and a gorgeous figure and the unwanted attention she gets from the opposite sex makes me feel really uncomfortable and protective and she hates it!!!

What kind of asshole winds the window down on his van to shout obscene things at a young woman just walking down the street with her mother!!!!

Absolute dickheads!! Makes us both feel angry and I feel bad for my DD having to put up with it when she shouldn't have to.

I wouldn’t know! It’s literally never happened to me (I seem to have missed out on the apparently universal experience) 😆

I hated it when I was young. Think I was around 11 and walking home from school when it started. I found it intimidating and embarrassing.
It stopped for a while when I had my children and was carrying or pushing babies .. but I still get whistles now and I’m in my 50s. I don’t find it a compliment. It’s usually a group of men egging each other on, rarely one man on his own (not that that would make it alright of course).
I hate to think of my children being harassed.

If you are the sort of person who gets personal validation from a mediocre man you have never met and will never see again, whistling at you like a dog, or yelling at you like a hooligan at a football match - then you have got serious self esteem issues.

Similarly, if you think men who do this are ok, then you need to considerably raise your standards. And definitely take a hard look at your parenting skills as well if you have children.