Wolf whistling, good or bad?

I'm sure many of you have seen in the news a girl complaining to the police after being repeatedly wolf whistled by builders. Do you think she should get a life or is this harrassment?

Before you answer, let me point you to this news story about a young girl who was sexually assaulted. I bet she dislikes wolf whistling.

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Reply 1

Wade-

Literally whistling at someone or calling out a sexual sentence should not be illegal. I find it hilarious how women act as though it only ever happens to them

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Reply 2

qwerty123asdfg

I think it is fair. Puts them in a position of weakness where they are openly being judged by a group of men. Can be very indimidating and puts people in very awkward situations. Some situations it might be acceptable but not to someone minding there own business whilst waking past a group of builders. While it isn't necessarily acceptable however, definitely don't think it should be called harrassment until they do it after she has asked them to stop. Saying it is harrassment is trivialising the charge a bit!

Reply 3

qwerty123asdfg

Original post by Wade-

Literally whistling at someone or calling out a sexual sentence should not be illegal. I find it hilarious how women act as though it only ever happens to them

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It should be frowned upon, all it acheives is making someone feel uncomfortable for the benefit of a select few thoughtless ...

Reply 4

Wade-

Original post by qwerty123asdfg

It should be frowned upon, all it acheives is making someone feel uncomfortable for the benefit of a select few thoughtless ...

I'm not saying it should be encouraged but it doesn't do any harm and it'd be wrong to restrict someone's freedom of expression to prevent it

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Reply 5

bassbabe

I've been wolf whistled at many times and I didn't think it was a big deal.

Reply 6

rachaelftw

Being wolf whistled at - especially by a group of people, any kind, is creepy. How can you say it's harmless when they're specifically targetting you, to point out the fact that they think you're attractive. And we all know when they do it infront of their group it's not because they want to ask you out on a date and get to know you better as a person, don't we? We know it's because they're trying to assert their dominance and show just what they'd like to do to you. Not just that, but it genuinely makes the person feel uncomfortable. If you want to tell someone they're attractive why don't you just go over and have an actual conversation with them instead of being arrogant and showing off infront of whichever group of people you're with. You're much more likely to get a positive reaction rather than being a creep and whistling at someone as they walk down the bloody street.

Reply 7

Wade-

Original post by rachaelftw

How is someone pointing out that you're attractive causing you harm? I very much doubt a group of builders are putting that much thought into it, it's probably more a case of thinking they can say what they like. You mean it genuinely makes you and SOME other people uncomfortable.

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Reply 8

College_Dropout

I think its more worrying that the builders decided to wolf whistle at her.

Reply 9

GodAtum

Wolf whistling is a gateway crime that could lead to rape.

Reply 10

Plantagenet Crown

It can be creepy, but I don't think it should be illegal, that's just excessive.

On another funny note though, a semi-troll made a thread on this issue once and proposed that women whistling to men should be termed "dog calling" (cat calling for women) :lol:

Reply 11

rachaelftw

Original post by Wade-

Because it's not just genuinely to point out you're attractive, it's to basically say "man, the things I'd do to you"
And knowing that's a thought in their head when you're out minding your own business, and it may be unreciprocated, it makes you feel uneasy and uncomfortable.
You're not telling me this group of builders are whistling at a girl because they want to take her to dinner and date her etc are you?
No they do it because they want to sleep with that girl. No two ways about it.

Reply 12

cherryred90s

Original post by GodAtum

That's how I met my boyfriend. He was wolf whistling at me. I turned around, liked what I saw and bam. Nothing wrong with it imo

Reply 13

garfeeled

It's creepy and can be intimidating. That being said I don't think its inherently wrong, just distasteful and inappropriate. That being said it becomes wrong when it becomes harrasment but wherer that line is a couldn't say.

Reply 14

username1331498

Original post by GodAtum

Wolf whistling is a gateway crime that could lead to rape.

Hahaha nice attempt at trolling.

Reply 15

TurboCretin

I don't think it should be illegal, but I can certainly see how women might find it intimidating. I don't really see what it's meant to achieve, either, unless you find it fun to make women feel uncomfortable.

Reply 16

rachaelftw

Original post by TurboCretin

I agree with this. I wouldn't necessarily say it's the kind of behaviour that should be illegal, but it's definitely distasteful and a poor way of trying to communicate attraction to women.

Reply 17

TurboCretin

Original post by Wade-

Probably depends on what you construe as harm.

It isn't as though wolf whistling is equivalent to someone pointing out your attractiveness. Saying to someone "sorry to bother you, but I just wanted to say you have lovely hair and that dress really compliments your figure" would probably have quite a different effect to whistling at them. Although it is arguable that walking up to a stranger apropos of nothing and offering your opinions on their appearance is inappropriate regardless of the delivery.

In any event, the reason that whistling has that effect is that it is is less of a compliment, more of an assertion of dominance.

Part of the reason for this is an insinuation that you'd give them a royally good seeing to, which is quite degrading. The other part is that the chances of a woman reacting to public degradation positively is quite slim, meaning that their opinion on being whistled at is irrelevant to one's decision to do it. Consequently, there isn't much to be reasonably expected from whistling at someone other than to make them feel uncomfortable and degraded.

Directing an act at someone to no end other than to make them feel uncomfortable and degraded seems to me to be an expression of dominance.

Is expressing dominance over someone else harmful to that person? Depends on what you construe as harm, and the basis for the expression of dominance. When it's a man (or more commonly a group of men) expressing dominance over a woman, I think it's at least arguable that that could be harmful.