NY Post Trolling? "Hey Ladies - Catcalls Are Flattering! Deal With It"

smalls · Aug 19, 2014

Wow. Just wow.

http://nypost.com/2014/08/18/enough-sanctimony-ladies-catcalls-are-flattering/

But the mystique and machismo of manly construction workers have always made my heart beat a little faster — and made my sashay a little saucier. It’s as primal as it gets, ladies! They either grunt in recognition or they go back to their coffee break. It’s not brain science — when a total stranger notices you, it’s validating.

Besides, hard hats need something to look at while they’re on their lunch break. I can be that objectified sex thing for them! What’s so wrong about a “You are sexy!” comment from any observant man?

Myrealana · Aug 19, 2014

Clickbait, naturally.

When I was younger, I admit, I found the occasional wolf whistle kind of flattering.

On the other hand, not all of the attention is as innocent as a man shouting "you're hot" or whistling in appreciation. A half dozen sweaty construction workers taking turns trying to one-up each other with crude and specific sexual suggestions is not fun, nor flattering. It's horrifying, and degrading.

Now that I'm 43 and fat, the comments are far different.

Celia Cyanide · Aug 19, 2014

It's not flattering because it doesn't mean anything. They do that to anything female that goes by. It's not proof that you're attractive.

kaitie · Aug 19, 2014

We're sure this isn't sarcasm?

Marian Perera · Aug 19, 2014

kaitie said:
We're sure this isn't sarcasm?

Yeah... this. Especially the part about "Jewish women" flashing their Egyptian overseers in the hopes of a little distraction from building the pyramids. It's so ludicrous I laughed.

Vince524 · Aug 19, 2014

Celia Cyanide said:
It's not flattering because it doesn't mean anything. They do that to anything female that goes by. It's not proof that you're attractive.

Bolding mine.

So, that explains the lack of cat calls when I strutted by some contrucktion workers in high heels, short skirt and a halter top the other day. I thought it was because I forgot to shave my legs. And arms. And face. And chest.

Perks · Aug 19, 2014

kaitie said:
We're sure this isn't sarcasm?

It reads like a joke to me.

MacAllister · Aug 19, 2014

Smalls, I do need to ask that you please NOT quote the entire article -- if you'd be so kind as to cut the quoted portion down by a bunch, and just post the link with an opening paragraph or two?

smalls · Aug 19, 2014

It does read like satire. But it's the NY Post, not the Onion - so clickbait is probably more like it.

This is from Wikipedia on the author:

Lewak is best known as the author of the 2008 book The Panic Years: A Guide to Surviving Smug Married Friends, Bad Taffeta, and Life on the Wrong Side of 25 without a Ring. The Panic Years offers advice on how to change one's relationship strategy to find a marriage partner.[3] Library Journal called the book “sassy and humorous.” [4] The success of the book turned Lewak into a quoted expert on the plight of the twenty-something single woman.[5]

Critics found Lewak’s insistence that women should make matrimony a goal, “repulsive,” [6] and criticized Lewak for “reinforc(ing) negative stereotypes.”

Vince524 · Aug 19, 2014

MacAllister said:
Smalls, I do need to ask that you please NOT quote the entire article -- if you'd be so kind as to cut the quoted portion down by a bunch, and just post the link with an opening paragraph or two?

You'd think someone who calls themselves Smalls would know about keeping things... well small.

smalls · Aug 19, 2014

MacAllister said:
Smalls, I do need to ask that you please NOT quote the entire article -- if you'd be so kind as to cut the quoted portion down by a bunch, and just post the link with an opening paragraph or two?

Fixed. Sorry about that. No harm intended.

Perks · Aug 19, 2014

I could dismiss the whole thing as an illustrative satire piece, except this line -

Enjoying male attention doesn’t make you a traitor to your gender.

With the exception of that line, you could take any other bit of that article as an example of ridiculousness. You could argue that the opposite of each part was true. But the line I quoted doesn't fit that model, and its inclusion (and the resultant disruption of the pattern) does make me wonder if she isn't serious.

It's too dippy for me to get too upset about if she's not kidding.

regdog · Aug 19, 2014

Just because one woman needs the unsolicited comments of unknown men to validate her does not mean the rest of us do. The only person I need validation from is myself.

smalls · Aug 19, 2014

Perks said:
It's too dippy for me to get too upset about if she's not kidding.

Ha - true!

Alessandra Kelley · Aug 19, 2014

Ewwwwwwwwww.

Ew.

(thinks for a bit more)

Ewwwwwwww.

My married friends were never smug, the way to avoid bad taffeta is to wear natural fibers, and which, exactly, is the "wrong" side of 25?

Ain't clicking on the linkbait, though.

virtue_summer · Aug 19, 2014

I don't even understand how it would be validating as a woman, because it's not about the woman. It's about a male showing off and validating his supposed manliness to himself and other men by confirming his sexuality. Or something like that anyway is how I've always seen it. Heck, it comes closer to male bonding than a man paying attention to a specific woman.

cornflake · Aug 19, 2014

It's the Post, people. The entire thing is a troll. I though it was gonna be Andrea Peyser; I've never heard of this one.

MacAllister · Aug 19, 2014

smalls said:
Fixed. Sorry about that. No harm intended.

Perfect! Thanks so much.

KTC · Aug 19, 2014

Celia Cyanide said:
It's not flattering because it doesn't mean anything. They do that to anything female that goes by. It's not proof that you're attractive.

THIS +1

KTC · Aug 19, 2014

To keep this in perspective, these are also the neanderthals who blow their nose without Kleenex. I love walking down the street and seeing one of these guys freeballing a great big whatfor of snot onto the sidewalk. I cherish those moments.

Devil Ledbetter · Aug 19, 2014

Street harassment makes me so angry that I can't even joke around about it. Men who do this suck, and all the men around them who don't bash their heads in for it also suck.

KTC · Aug 19, 2014

Devil Ledbetter said:
Street harassment makes me so angry that I can't even joke around about it. Men who do this suck, and all the men around them who don't bash their heads in for it also suck.

i also hate it. i have spoken up...many times.

Devil Ledbetter · Aug 19, 2014

KTC said:
i also hate it. i have spoken up...many times.

Thank you.

My 13-year-old son hears his sister and I rant about it when we come home from our walks. The other day some neighbor kids catcalled a woman walking by with her dog. My son told them to knock it off, and that it wasn't cool. He then approached the woman and apologized that his friends were such jerks. Then his friends called him "gay" and he responded along the lines of "I don't know why you think that's an insult."

If only he'd clean his room and take his dirty socks off the coffee table, he'd be perfect.

Alessandra Kelley · Aug 19, 2014

Devil Ledbetter said:
Street harassment makes me so angry that I can't even joke around about it. Men who do this suck, and all the men around them who don't bash their heads in for it also suck.

Pretty much.

What does it say that until just now I thought the title of this thread said that someone was asking if New York had moved past the idea of harrassment.

"New York Post-Trolling?"

The actual meaning makes so much more sense. And yes, yes it is.

smalls · Aug 19, 2014

Devil Ledbetter said:
Thank you.

My 13-year-old son hears his sister and I rant about it when we come home from our walks. The other day some neighbor kids catcalled a woman walking by with her dog. My son told them to knock it off, and that it wasn't cool. He then approached the woman and apologized that his friends were such jerks. Then his friends called him "gay" and he responded along the lines of "I don't know why you think that's an insult."

If only he'd clean his room and take his dirty socks off the coffee table, he'd be perfect.

There is hope! I don't have kids and sometimes it can get overwhelming to hear about all the negativity and think, I'm supposed to raise kids in this world?? (I do want children one day.) So it's SO nice to hear about kids that are not only polite but well on their way to becoming respectable, respectful adults. So thank YOU.

NY Post Trolling? "Hey Ladies - Catcalls Are Flattering! Deal With It"

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