Catcalling ethnographic Research Proposal PDF

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Title: ‘Catcalling: Motivations, Cultural Background and Consequences of Street Harassment’



Research Problem



Whistles, explicit sexual comments, kisses, clackson sounds are all forms of street harassment, rebaptised with the english term ‘catcal...

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Title: ‘Catcalling: Motivations, Cultural Background and Consequences of Street Harassment’ Research Problem Whistles, explicit sexual comments, kisses, clackson sounds are all forms of street harassment, rebaptised with the english term ‘catcalling’, as re-evoking the sound (call) emitted to draw a cat’s attention (cat). Catcalling is an undesired and unilateral attention from a stranger towards a passer-by, practiced predominantly by men towards young women. Despite a remarkable progress in disclosing the aggressive nature of such acts, defining them as verbal sexual assault, the phenomenon is an issue worldwide, which affects all women even before puberty. Most feminist scholars agree that catcalling is derived from the patriarchal culture we live in, hence, from the lack of education and thus the unpunishment of these actions. Besides, the rapidity and the fact of being produced verbally makes them even more difficult to prove. Another issue is the justifying attitude of considering catcalling as a ‘clumsy’ compliment, both by men who practise it and women who do not comprehend its nature. The purpose of this study is to identify key issues of catcalling within a feminist perspectives, which envision the phenomenon as a consequence of the patriarchal system. It also examines psycho-physical consequences on victims, such as sexual objectification.

Literature Review Despite the wide array of literature and articles available related to street harassment more broadly, it was arduous to find exclusive material about the phenomenon of catcalling. The scarcity of documentation on the topic motivated the conduction of this thesis and a further investigation which explains the reasons behind such little information. The first in identifying the problem were Fairchild and Rudman (2008), whose article introduces the concept of Stranger Harassment: a kind of harassment practiced in public by a total stranger, which include ‘both verbal and nonverbal behaviour, such as wolf-whistles, leers, winks, grabs, pinches, catcalls, and stranger remarks; the remarks are frequently sexual in nature and comment evaluatively on a woman's physical appearance of on her present in public’ (Fairchild and Rudman, 2008). The authors recognise the absence of studies about the topic, and attribute the cause to the non-existing legal consequences to convict the offenders, along with the fact that catcalls can easily pass for compliments and are thus difficult to evidence. A major component of Stranger Harassment is sexual objectification of the female body, theory developed by Fredrickson & Roberts (1997), in which female bodies are regarded and treated as if they were objects. In situations where catcalling happen, women are objectified, in that they are simply bodies, or even body parts. Self-objectification explains psychological consequences on people who are constantly objectified. In fact, many women who are frequently victims of Stranger Harassment will become more likely to objectify themselves (Fairchild and Rudman 2008). But, psychosocial effects include not only a bad body image, studies also identify anxiety and depression symptoms, decrease in selfconfidence and increase in the fear of rape (Davidson et al. 2016; Fairchild e Rudman 2008; MacMillan et al. 2000; McCarty et al. 2014). Further, Livingston (2015) asserts that streets harassments from unknown people lead to changes in behaviour such as avoidance,

examples include changing direction, not taking a mean of transport, not visiting certain places, not going out at night time. In 2016, an organisation called Hollaback which aims at combatting harassment conducted an investigation on the emotive impact of street harassments. According to data found, being verbally harassed on the street provokes anger, fear and anxiety, all feelings that may lead to a long-term condition of depression and low self-esteem. It often occurs that women apply strategies in order to avoid potentially dangerous situations or to feel less vulnerable, for example, dressing in a non-attractive way, wearing sunglasses, or even assume determined postures to look mean and thus not weak (Escove, 1998). It is clear that fear of being victim of harassment or having experienced it heavily influence women’s behaviour in the everyday life, from choosing clothes to choosing how, when and where to go. Studies on women’s response to street harassments suggest that women reacts with non assertive behaviour, such as avoiding eye-contact or completely ignoring the aggressor if called upon (Fairchild and Rudman, 2008; Folkman, Lazarus, Gruen, & DeLongis, 1986). Furthermore, another behavioural consequence is victimblaming, that is, an embarrassment and critique of their own aspect (Calogero and Jost, 2011; Fairchild and Rudman, 2008). Ervinda et al. (2021) explains catcalling as a consequence of the patriarchal society, thus it is assumed as normal. Their survey shows that the majority of respondent to catcalls chose simply to ignore it. This silence will only result in reinforcing patriarchal character. In a more general context, women’s choices of not reporting these episodes to the law are due to their feeling inferior and fear of not being considered. Moreover, Ervinda et al. (2021) argue that catcalling are frequent happenings because of lack of knowledge and in particular, of the role of patriarchy which leads to gender inequality. Thus, street harassment is not a unique and independent phenomenon, rather, it is an unpleasant effect of the patriarchal society, which is manifested through ‘gender biases injustices experienced in the public space’ (Ervinda et al, 2021, p. 8). Another problem of street harassment is that it is not given enough importance to the repercussions of its victims, therefore it becomes even harder to legislate such offenses (p. 9). In substance, catcalling is caused by a persistent patriarchal culture within our society, where men occupy the highest position and consequently, which generates gender inequality. But, another factor in determining gender inequality is narrow thinking (p. 10), which nowadays should be surmounted, given the progress of feminist movement and the improvement of information access in achieving public education. In this regard, Flood (2007), Glick and Hilt (2000), Pryor and Whalen (1997) argue that sexual harassment is justified, if not ecouraged by a discriminatory and abusing culture towards women, and men who take on sexist mentality are more likely to adopt aggressive attitudes towards women and manifest them through their behaviour. In addition, sexist beliefs are grounded in traditional gender stereotypes of masculinity and femininity, where masculinity has been recognised to be associated with and supporting sexual harassing behaviours (Walton and Pedersen, 2021). Although catcalling limited studies are rather concerned about effects and how they are experienced by women, even fewer attention has been given to men’s perspective and what causes them to perform those gestures. The sole concerned about the subject are Walton and Pedersen (2021), who conducted an investigation on the motivations which pushes men to catcall and the desired reactions from women they wish to obtain. They rely on hypotheses according to which men who engage in catcalling would rate higher score on ‘sexist beliefs, social dominance, traditionally conservative masculinity and tolerance of sexual harassment’, compared to men who do not catcall. The results show that within motivations for engaging in catcalls, the majority (85.4%) responded ‘to show that I like the woman’, followed by ‘to show my sexual interest to the woman’ (82.9%). The second most

voted motivation was flattery and flirtation, that is ‘to compliment the woman’. The third most reported component included gratification/benefit, where participants responded with ‘because it cheers me up/turns me on’. Other motivations comprehend men group dynamics, power/anonymity and lastly, misogyny. Within desired reactions from women, the majority expect to achieve friendly respondes and to raise feelings of flattery, while a small portion hope to provoke negative feelings. Although it can be deducted that men’s motivations for engaging in catcalling are flattery, flirtation and sexual positive affect, the authors clarify that most participants could have reported those answers as they thought they were the most convenient. In fact, their attitudes and behaviours clashes with their stated aims.

Research Methods Due to the current pandemic and the impossibility of conducting face-to-face interviews, I will avail of autoethnography as method and rely on my personal experience in my native country, Italy, which is characterised by a strong patriarchy and sexism beliefs. I started experiencing catcalling since my puberty, and being now 22, it happens to me on a daily basis every time I go out alone or with female friends. The type of comment, and the severity of the insult depend on the social status, age, level of attractiveness of the perpetrator. Usually, young men tend to act especially when they are in groups of 2 or more friends, and their formula include whistles, leering, informal compliments such as ‘you look so sexy’ which are anyway not requested and unwelcome, in that they are made by unknowns. On the other hand, older men seem to be the most insolent, since I often go through explicit sexual comments such as ‘nice bum’ or even ‘I just want to eat you up’ made by aged men. My typical reaction towards catcalls is ignoring them, pretending not to hear or talking on the phone, this usually makes me feel more protected as it may lead the aggressor think that I am not alone, or that his insults are not even being considered. The consequences on these episodes on my mental health are feelings of annoyance, discomfort and embarrassment, but most of all, anger in acknowledging that a random man believes to be entitled to express uncomfortable compliments (not to be deemed as such) of a sexual nature to a stranger. One day me and my friend Greta went jogging together to a local seafront, and we decided to count all the catcalls we would have gone through during our workout. The result is that 15 men attempted to whistle, blow the horn, make loud exclamations towards our body parts. I was particularly impressed by a middle-aged man who was passing by and said to Greta ‘those boobs’. Her reaction was to immediately putting her sweater back on, preferring to suffer the heat of forty five degrees, rather than remaining in sport-bra and top and risking receiving another comment on her breast. This response is remarked by Livingston’s sense of avoidance and Escove’s study on influence on women’s behaviour. The remaining 14 perpetrators were under their 20s, most of them in the company of friends. Studies on catcalling suggest that men aim at establishing power dynamics between men and women, and want to maintain a high standard of masculinity within their group of friends, thus catcalls are not intended as sincere compliments. In Italy, like many countries, this phenomenon is still not considered an offence, due to its immediacy, and to the complication in prooving that someone is verbally harassing you. Because of the normalisation and the lack of legal consequences for perpetrators who actualise street harassment, catcalling continues to happen frequently. This devious form of harassment is so pervasive in public life and italian social structure that it will be difficult to

surmount without an adequate awareness and formation.

References: Calogero, R. M., & Jost, J. T. (2011). Self-subjugation among women: exposure to sexist ideology, self-objectification, and the protective function of the need to avoid closure. Journal of personality and social psychology, 100(2), 211 Davidson, M. M., Butchko, M. S., Robbins, K., Sherd, L. W., & Gervais, S. J. (2016). The mediating role of perceived safety on street harassment and anxiety. Psychology of Violence, 6(4), 553. Escove, A. W. (1998). A diminishing of self: Women’s experiences of unwanted sexual attention. Health Care for Women International, 19, 181–192 Ervinda, M. D., Putri, R. E., & Pandin, M. (2021). Catcalling As a Representation of the Strong Patriarchal Culture in the Perspective of Feminism. Fairchild, K., & Rudman, L. A. (2008). Everyday stranger harassment and women’s objectification. Social Justice Research, 21(3), 338-357. Flood, M. (2007). Men, sex, and homosociality: How bonds between men shape their sexual relations with women. Men and Masculinities, 10(3), 339–359. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0891243219863031 [Crossref], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar] Folkman, S., Lazarus, R. S., Gruen, R. J., & DeLongis, A. (1986). Appraisal, coping health status, and psychological symptoms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 571– 579. Fredrickson, B. L., & Roberts, T. (1997). Objectification theory: Toward understanding women’s lived experiences and mental health risks. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 173-206. Glick, P., & Hilt, L. (2000). Combative children to ambivalent adults: The development of gender prejudice. In T. Eckes & H. Trautner (Eds.), The developmental social psychology of gender (pp. 243–272). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Livingston, B. A. (2015). Hollaback! International street harassment survey project Per saperne di più: https://www.stateofmind.it/2021/04/catcalling-pappagallismo/ Macmillan, R., Nierobisz, A., & Welsh, S. (2000). Experiencing the streets: Harassment and perceptions of safety among women. Journal of research in crime and delinquency, 37(3), 306-322. McCarty, M. K., Iannone, N. E., & Kelly, J. R. (2014). Stranger danger: The role of

perpetrator and context in moderating reactions to sexual harassment. Sexuality & Culture, 18(4), 739-758. Pryor, J. B., & Whalen, N. J. (1997). A typology of sexual harassment: Characteristics of harassers and the social circumstances under which sexual harassment occurs. In W. T. O’Donohue (Ed.), Sexual harassment: Theory, research and treatment (pp. 5–28). Allyn & Bacon Walton, K. A., & Pedersen, C. L. (2021). Motivations Behind Catcalling: Exploring Men’s Engagement in Street Harassment Behavior. Psychology & Sexuality...