I don’t think women should have to receptive to random guy’s inappropriate comments on the street.  I do not do this guys ever and I don’t want it done to me.  Nor, would I feel lucky or appreciative that some random loser thinks I am hot.  In addition, I don’t go up to strange men with similar compliments. 

The catcalls in the street is not something that I have seen a lot of Northern Virginia.  Generally, it’s just blank animal stare.  Which in itself feels and looks disgusting but at least it’s not a verbal attack.

I guess I am confused about what double standard he is referring to…and surely he realizes that even if some women do  have a double standard this does not give him a free pass to harass us all. 

I would add this idea. This man, he’s married, maybe has a kid and he’s really hot. He is also very much in love with his wife and never strays. But since he is very hot and a nice guy, women often hit on her. When he’s in a bar with friends, walking on the street, getting coffee etc. Even when he’s with his wife. Women stare and smile at him. They try to make conversation. A few of the bold ones have even offered to buy a drink and  flat out asked him to go home with them. But this guy,  he is not flattered, he is sick of it. He just wants to have a nice time with his wife. He is so tired of telling women to fuck off nicely, cause he is a nice guy. So this one time he’s waiting for his lovely wife outside a store, having a smoke, when a group of women go by. They smile at him, he doesn’t return the smile. And then one of the women calls out: ““Boy how do you look so cool when you’re so hot?” And he just get so angry and answers: ““I’ll fucking kill you.”

So there. I’m all for the equal rights and stuff. So I can admit that a woman can kill a man as easily as a man can kill a woman, if she really wants to. We shouldn’ t just say that it’s not ok for a man to say or act this way, cause he’s stronger and women get raped more often than men do. The truth is you never know a strangers background and what she or he has been trough. I think what stands here is ” Don’t do to others what you would not want others to do to you.”
If we, women, don’t want to be harassed on the street we should say harassing is wrong. And it’s always wrong! Doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman, old or young, ugly or beautiful. We can’t say it’s wrong to harass a young beautiful woman who’s alone on the street. But it’s ok to catcall a 80 year old grand mom who’s with her friends, cause you know, who’s going to look at her anyway.

How would you feel as a woman if your hot man got catcalled on the street all the time. And other women would stare at him. My man sometimes receives that. It usually makes me laugh. But if it happened more often I would really like if he’d tell them “I’ll fucking kill you”. Or I could do it myself.

I’m so glad to see this as a discussion. I am harassed by men on the street everyday in NYC, and I almost always stop and make it clear that it’s unacceptable and illegal to harass me. I always wonder why a man would think that it’s appropriate to make loud, uninvited comments when a woman walks down the street. It seems like a move intended to show power and place fear into the woman. It’s not a compliment. I am trying to imagine a woman harassing a man on the street with the same motive of power and fear, but I just can’t. I fail to see how the man’s safety is threatened. But that doesn’t make it right, and a man doesn’t have an obligation to feel complimented. Instead of arguing about the double standard, how about we agree that street harassment is always wrong, and commit to standing up to harassers and educating men and young people about respecting others in our community? Here’s a great resource: http://stopstreetharassment.com/