Catcalling: Whose fault is it?

“Hi, Miss!”

“Miss! Ganda mo naman!”

“Psst! Hi, Miss Sexy!”

These are just some of the things that I hear being normally shouted out at me as I walk towards

wherever I want to go to. May it be the mall, the school, my friend’s house, just anywhere that I am

supposed and wanted to go to. In fact, this has happened so many time to us, girls, that some men

actually think that it’s okay to shout and call girls these things. They probably think that it flatters us, and it makes us feel beautiful, because hey! at least somebody thinks that you wore the right kind of skirt that perfectly accentuates the shape of your bum, right?

Wake up call: it doesn’t. We don’t feel beautiful, because we feel embarrassed. Instead of feeling

confident in the clothes that we’re wearing, we feel uncomfortable, because we would always have this thought of being catcalled by the people we encounter in the streets. We always have this constant fear of not only being called names, but also being harassed and touched by people who we do not really know.

Once, I was walking towards the jeepney stop on my way to school. I was wearing something that I

usually wear whenever I feel like being girly: a decent-looking cropped top, a skirt that extended until

just a few inches above my knees, and a pair of sneakers. I had only just crossed the street when a man, who was riding a bicycle, reached out and groped on my bum, causing me to stop in the middle of the sidewalk, staring at his back and cursing loud enough for him to hear me. He was grinning and laughing, and there I was, my knees buckling, my mind going through all the words that could describe that guy. Idiot. Maniac. Asshole. Douchebag. I had never felt so disrespected.

Later that day, I told that story to my mom, because I just felt like I had to tell her. Her friend, who was a teacher in my elementary school overheard our conversation. His response was something that I never expected would come out of a man who has been teaching in a school that promoted respect and values. In fact, it was a response I never thought I would hear from someone at all. He looked at me from my head to my toe, then back up to my face. He said, “Kaya naman pala.”

As if it’s the girl’s fault that we are tempting the males by wearing something that would “cause them to sin”. It’s not, though. It’s not our fault that these boys don’t know how to show respect. They do not

know the trauma that this may cause to the girls that had experienced these things. Some decide not to wear skirts that may provoke them, some refuse to walk alone in the fear that somebody might repeat the same actions. It’s sad that girls have to face the same circumstances and experience anxiety every time they try to try to make themselves feel and look good.

Don’t stop the girls from wearing clothes that they feel confident and beautiful in. Teach the other

people respect, and how they can show it in their simplest of ways. Girls, always remember that you

wear what you wear not to please the people around you, but because you feel confident as to how you look like.

#editorial