The Problem with That Catcalling Video; White People Edited Out

[Rock & Roll Hall of Game]

I'm sure you seen an article or watch the video of a NYC woman who walked around for 10-hours, allowing men to catcall her more than 100 times. 

 

There are a few white individuals displayed in the video, like the one white guy turning around and saying "Nice" but majority of the catcalling came from the minorities in the video. 

 

The video was produced by the marketing agency of Rob Bliss Creative. At the end of the video they claimed that the 100+ incidents included people of "All backgrounds", however, if you watched it you would notice that that wasn't the case.

 

Rob Bliss commented on the shortage of white men catcalling, "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] is not a perfect representation of everything that happened."[sic]

 

This isn't Rob's first time with racial blindness. You can read more about it below

 

http://griid.org/2011/05/28/rob-bliss’s-lip-dub-sparks-some-questions/

 

[Reyna ♔]

 

[aed05]

I notice this yesterday when I saw the video. I thought either the black population in NYC is huge or she only walked through neighborhoods of color. There were practically NO white men to be seen even when she walked through time square. Anywho, much of what was said to her was not offensive. She was a pretty girl in a tight outfit, who happen to be curvaceous. men are going to look. If she had on say a basic dress or business suite she wouldn't have gotten half the comments she did. Other than the creepy guy who walked with her fior five minutes, nothing happened to her.

[Escapade]

Cat calling is the most annoying thing in the world. Imagine going through what she goes through EVERY SINGLE DAY. Funny thing is, let a gay man talk to these straight men how they're talking to that woman. They will start to feel uncomfortable from the unwanted attention and probably realize that that is the EXACT way women feel when being harassed/approached on the street. And God forbid the women says something back, that's a whole other can of worms. 

[trackboy]

First of all, as someone who currently spends a lot of time in NYC, strangers talk to you often -- most of the time it's to ask for money or something.  Just today someone asked me, "How are you doing today, Mister."  That's not a cat call.

 

Comments like Damn Mami and the such are cat calling and inappropriate. However, I think of instances where I see someone who looks good and I think that same thought "damn they look good or whatever" in my head.  Am I the only one who does that?

 

Also if you have a logo on your butt, I'm probably going to look even if I'm not attracted to you because you have something painted on your ass! But I guess I'm the only one and maybe I'm guilty of internally cat calling any fine person I see on the street. 

[Rock & Roll Hall of Game]

I'm not sure why you mentioned that first paragraph but You're not a woman and these men aren't saying "How are you m'am? Beautiful day we're having!"

There's no such thing as "internal catcalling" and that is not what women are talking about.

[trackboy]

I'm not sure why you mentioned that first paragraph but You're not a woman and these men aren't saying "How are you m'am? Beautiful day we're having!"

There's no such thing as "internal catcalling" and that is not what women are talking about.

 

Some of them were saying variations of that. 

[Rock & Roll Hall of Game]

Some of them were saying variations of that.

any ladies of the board want to clarify?

[Reyna ♔]

After seeing the video, I feel split in half on the issue. There were plenty of guys who were actually catcalling her like those just shouting "Damn!" or saying comments that are a "kind" mask of the same thing like the moron who went "You should be thankful when someone calls you beautiful". Any vitriol towards them is well-deserved. However, there were also men who sounded genuinely nice and wished her a nice day. I don't think of that as catcalling. A few even simply called her "beautiful" which is a compliment, though, some women still consider it as being hit on. In my opinion, unless a guy keeps that up to the point he makes you uncomfortable and doesn't care that he does or makes it your problem then it seems to me as just a compliment. There were also a guy or two who just seemed generally odd, but it's NYC. That's expected.

 

The original video is 10 hours long plus she's in a city of 4.2 million (strange, very strange) people, and while I don't wish to see the full length video, I can say that having personally been on the receiving end of a lot of the same commentary (rude or nice) I think the niceties were edited out on purpose to make room for the rude comments. That isn't to say it was done maliciously. There are plenty of men who are still sexist and need to learn respect and this video may be attempting to bring attention. Videos like this, though, paint all men with a broad brush and I don't care for that at all. Be it intentionally or simply through the editing for a concise point. Using this can be an example of what sexism can look like, sure. Nevertheless, it isn't at all the best source for evidence of this sort of sexism in all or even the majority of men.