"Catcalling" video which went viral

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Bill Glasheen
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"Catcalling" video which went viral

Post by Bill Glasheen »

I'm going to include a copy of this video here for you to observe and to comment on. I will avoid the editorialization that occurs with it being reported on in the news.

..... Woman Catcalled 108 Times While Walking In New York

Comments from me later. You are welcome to comment before I do.

- Bill
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Bill Glasheen
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Re: "Catcalling" video which went viral

Post by Bill Glasheen »

For what it's worth...

Shoshana Roberts is an aspiring actress. Here's a video posted by here which was out 4 months before the "catcalling" video went viral. This is more "data" on the actress who played the role in the video being discussed.

..... Shoshana B. Roberts Reel

- Bill
Stryke
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Re: "Catcalling" video which went viral

Post by Stryke »

This was over five hours , makes you think eh Bill

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/new ... _id=146448


Some things aren't as acceptable in different places and I would go so far as to suggest a certain socio-economic groups are more likely to engage in such behaviour , needing to assert themselves in some way to compensate for their er feelings .

I do also wonder how many people one would pass walking for ten hours in New York , and what sort of percentage of behaviour it really is .

Not excusing any behaviour which makes a women feel threatened.
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Bill Glasheen
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Re: "Catcalling" video which went viral

Post by Bill Glasheen »

Fascinating, Marcus.

She's a looker, no? :)

More later.

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Bill Glasheen
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Re: "Catcalling" video which went viral

Post by Bill Glasheen »

Lots going on here.

Let's start with what Marcus said.
Stryke wrote: Not excusing any behaviour which makes a women feel threatened.
End of story.

- Bill
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Re: "Catcalling" video which went viral

Post by Bill Glasheen »

Now let's critique Shoshana Roberts and the group she worked with.

If you put bait on a hook and throw it in the water, there's a good chance you're going to catch a fish.

If you take a young woman with a D cup chest, have her wear a form fitting top, and have her walk through certain neighborhoods in New York, you are going to attract unwanted attention the way that feces attracts flies.

I'm sorry... this whole "She was dressing modestly" thing is bunk. The producers of this film were being extremely disingenuous with the color of the top and the camera angle. Did you hear the one black man who said "Damn.... DAMN!!!!" He was commenting on this woman's chest. Was it crass? Yes. Was it expected given the environment? Probably.

I had a partner for eight (8) years who had a body that would stop traffic. When I met her she had a 38 DD chest. After joining my class and she got in shape, it dropped to a 36 D. She also bellydanced. Yes, she attracted attention. She was a pretty good sport about it all. But she tried to underemphasize her chest because... well... it just makes some men go stupid. It is what it is, kind of like what the Beatles did to teenage girls when they first came over from London. The reaction to Kathleen was so predictable that I discovered something interesting with her.

Back in 1977 I traveled with her up and down the east coast visiting various martial arts instructors. Uechi seniors were very nice, but the eyes spoke volumes. Except for one gentleman. Weird... He was *very* much a gentleman to Kathleen.

Oh...

It was the first evidence I had he was gay. My current wife came up to me years later and told me flat out that he was. "He isn't looking at me the way guys look at me." Yep... they were right.

Mating rituals happen. Attraction happens. How we deal with our impulses separates the ladies and gentlemen from the animals and the predators.

Pretending these forces aren't there is naive and/or willfully ignorant. Inciting them through intent or ignorance is playing with fire.

Yes, Shoshana was an actor and her eyes were telling everyone "No!" But the minority of men who behaved badly weren't looking at her eyes and were frankly incapable of reading feelings from her facial expressions. The other head was thinking for them. Hormones do that. They make some of us stupid and aggressive. That goes for both testosterone and estrogen.

I often tell people that I tend not to go to places where alcohol and mating rituals are happening in the same place (such as clubs). This is why. I see a male behaving badly and a beast from within me wants to act without my permission. I choose not to put myself in that position. Nothing good comes of it.

- Bill
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Re: "Catcalling" video which went viral

Post by Bill Glasheen »

Stryke wrote: Some things aren't as acceptable in different places and I would go so far as to suggest a certain socio-economic groups are more likely to engage in such behaviour , needing to assert themselves in some way to compensate for their er feelings .
Spot on.

First... I found this quite interesting.
Hanna Rosin of Slate.com wrote:the video also unintentionally makes another point: that harassers are mostly black and Latino, and hanging out on the streets in midday in clothes that suggest they are not on their lunch break. As Roxane Gay tweeted, “The racial politics of the video are ##### up. Like, she didn’t walk through any white neighborhoods?”

The video is a collaboration between Hollaback, an anti-street harassment organization, and the marketing agency Rob Bliss Creative. At the end they claim the woman experienced 100-plus incidents of harassment “involving people of all backgrounds.” Since that obviously doesn’t show up in the video, Bliss addressed it in a post. He wrote, “We got a fair amount of white guys, but for whatever reason, a lot of what they said was in passing, or off camera,” or was ruined by a siren or other noise. The final product, he writes, “is not a perfect representation of everything that happened.” That may be true but if you find yourself editing out all the catcalling white guys, maybe you should try another take.

This is not the first time Bliss has been called out for race blindness.
It is worth mentioning something about my own work environment. First... Shashana would not be allowed to wear that top in the office. It is distracting to people trying to do work - many of them young males who have above average testosterone levels. Second, any male who made such a comment would be fired. Period. Both parties are read the riot act EVERY SINGLE YEAR when all employees are made to go through 2 days of ethics and compliance training. Good behavior is hammered into your brain. Bad behavior is grounds for job loss.

Two parties are dancing the tango here. Neither could be employed where I work.
Stryke wrote: I do also wonder how many people one would pass walking for ten hours in New York , and what sort of percentage of behaviour it really is .
The above excerpt from Slate partially answers your question.

It's worth mentioning a story from the partner I had for eight years.

She was driving to New York to see David Finkelstein, and was going there with a woman from Columbia. So I did some work on the car before she left. Little did I know that I accidentally unhooked the electric fan which was in front of the radiator. She got in NYC traffic and the car overheated - in Time Square. This is before it was cleaned up (pimps, con men, and prostitutes removed) as it is today. So she and her friend get out, and before you know it there were a dozen men swarming around them, allegedly there to help. One kind Good Samaritan saw the problem and immediately fixed it. Another quietly told her that it was a very bad idea being where they were, dressed like the were. Like Virginians, and not like New Yorkers. They were babes in the woods, and the wolves were swarming.

Oh...

- Bill
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