Let’s discuss something called “Street Harassment”. Perhaps you have seen the video calling attention to this. A woman walks around New York City for 10 hours, silently, wearing a crew cut t-shirt and jeans. She receives a lot of unwanted attention from men.

Consider if the roles were reversed. Men can walk anywhere they want and not be verbally harassed by women. Women do not call out to them about how attractive they are, or give them their number, or ask for dates. What we are seeking here is equality. Women want to be treated with the same respect and courtesy that men expect.

Just because a woman is walking on the street, it doesn’t mean that she is a street walker. She is a pedestrian, not a prostitute.

It doesn’t matter how attractive the woman is. She still doesn’t want to be treated like a piece of meat. A woman should be able to walk anywhere she wants without being accosted verbally. It is not okay for a man to call out to woman and say “Hey beautiful!” or “Damn, you look fine!” We don’t like it, and we don’t want it. Really.

The woman is not being rude for ignoring the man’s attentions. He’s being rude for invading her space. She is just walking to the doctor’s office or her school or work. She should not have to dress in a bulky jacket in order to avoid unwanted comments.

Women dress the way they do because that is the way they dress. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they want male attention. Just walking within male eyesight does not mean that they want them to talk to them and tell them how hot they are.

There are a lot of unwanted interactions between women and men. This is just one of them, and the least violent.