Male whistles, simulated murder and videogames
A reader sends in a post (thanks) from a woman by the name of Leigh Alexander, who writes about a new videogame called "Hey Baby" that shoots and kills men who make comments to women on the street. Here is a description of this lovely game:
Alexander is just rendered powerless by men on the street who (gasp!) ask her to smile:
I lived in NYC for 7 years in alphabet land on the lower east side among drug dealers and pimps. Never once did I feel powerless when someone made a comment. I never smiled for anyone if I didn't feel like it and went about my business. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
Women who let catcalls on the street make them feel angry enough to need revenge through simulated murder are no better than the guys they denounce for shooting hookers in Grand Theft Auto.
Or maybe these "feminists" are just as sadistic as the men they denounce and they need a reason (men are asking me to smile--how dare they?!!) to give them the balls to play a game that acts out their long-standing internal rage. Whatever the reason, comments on the street may be annoying but they are hardly a reason to wish someone dead.
The other thing I find ironic about these "feminists" is that while they call for the simulated murder of men who dare whistle at them, they typically believe in gun control and try to take away the rights of women in real situations of danger such as being robbed or raped. Maybe they should focus on gun rights for women in real danger instead of simulated murder to give embittered women a thrill whose only danger is that they can't stand to have a man ask them to smile once in a while.
Ladies, are you sick and tired of catcalling, hollering, obnoxious one-liners and creepy street encounters? Tired of changing your route home to avoid uncomfortable situations?
IT'S PAYBACK TIME, BOYS.....
Alexander is just rendered powerless by men on the street who (gasp!) ask her to smile:
It's latent misogyny that happens in big cities; it takes my power away. It makes me an object in front of people I don't even know, and that's not okay whether they're nice about it or not. It is nothing less than a slow-burning chronic trauma.
My favorite catcall in the 'Hey Baby Game'? "Smile for me, baby." It fills me with rage that a stranger on the street feels at liberty to demand that I smile. I smile when I feel like it, and I sure as shit don't want to do it for you, buddy.
I lived in NYC for 7 years in alphabet land on the lower east side among drug dealers and pimps. Never once did I feel powerless when someone made a comment. I never smiled for anyone if I didn't feel like it and went about my business. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
Women who let catcalls on the street make them feel angry enough to need revenge through simulated murder are no better than the guys they denounce for shooting hookers in Grand Theft Auto.
Or maybe these "feminists" are just as sadistic as the men they denounce and they need a reason (men are asking me to smile--how dare they?!!) to give them the balls to play a game that acts out their long-standing internal rage. Whatever the reason, comments on the street may be annoying but they are hardly a reason to wish someone dead.The other thing I find ironic about these "feminists" is that while they call for the simulated murder of men who dare whistle at them, they typically believe in gun control and try to take away the rights of women in real situations of danger such as being robbed or raped. Maybe they should focus on gun rights for women in real danger instead of simulated murder to give embittered women a thrill whose only danger is that they can't stand to have a man ask them to smile once in a while.
posted by Helen at 5:42 AM
34 Comments:
I think women should be able to walk down the street without being sexually harassed and terrorized.
Women should have options, men should have obligations. That's the underlying principal of American feminism, right Cham?
Cham,
If male whistles "terrorize" you, you have a weak constitution. I do agree that women should be able to walk down the street without being harassed. However, I also think that men should be able to marry with half the law on their side, sit in a college class without being bashed by women as an oppressor and not be charged unfairly with rape by any woman who decides to do so. Apparently, life isn't fair.
When faced with adversity, some people learn Krav Maga; liberals devise fantasy role-play video games where you murder people for whistling.
Oh, what a wonderful world.
Feminism - and because of its influence, most all of modern American womanhood - is a philosophy where women are equal and powerful and can do everything a man can do...unless there's any amount of testosterone around, in which case women are rendered powerless by some kind of male mind control.
This lady (I have other words for her that aren't fit to print) doth protest too much. If men didn't hit on her in public, she'd complain how men were "intimidated" by powerful women.
Most men on this blog are tired of dealing with the average American woman who wants everything both ways, but I have a hard time imagining we'd line up to get a video game where the player shoots women strictly for the revenge factor.
I just checked the woman's photo on her blog, and she'll be happy to know that I won't be catcalling her any time soon.
Check out comments from these two manginas on Alexander's blog:
"This is something I never realized was an issue until recently. I feel like crap that there are dudes that do this. "
"I'm no saint either, I've done my share of staring in my life and probably still look a bit longer than I should at times. I'm not proud of it, but it is something I try to work on...my apologies for my fellow men making life so hard for you. You'd think they'd try to put themselves in the "What if that was my mom or sister?"
Cham opines: "I think women should be able to walk down the street without being sexually harassed and terrorized."
--------
This boils down to people being rude. Women can also be rude in public, just in their own way.
If you are really truly terrorized by a rude guy saying "smile, honey", you may require psychiatric hospitalization, complete with a lobotomy and electro-convulsive therapy.
I also don't understand the snippy way that was stated, because the men here are probably far less likely to be among the perpetrators. I don't catcall women, so I guess take it up with the guys who do (unless you are expecting chivalrous help or you are attributing bad behavior on the part of some men to all men).
Most of the time, these women are just upset that it's the wrong type of man doing it. Odds are that 90% of them would feel flattered if a good looking man with money slyly grinned at them and said "hey baby, smile."
I used to wonder about guys who cat-call women on the street, until I started paying attention to the women's reaction. In round numbers, about half completely ignore it. About a quarter will respond negatively, ranging from a glare to a one-finger-salute to yelling at the offender. About a quarter react positively, with smiles and flirts. This from comments that were much worse than asking her to smile (perhaps asking her to shake her butt for instance).
Men cat-call because it works often enough to make it worthwhile.
The game's graphics look like they are from 2001.
In America most women do walk down the street without being 'terrorized'.
'It takes my power away'..what the hell gobbledygook is this!?
Cham --
"I think women should be able to walk down the street without being sexually harassed and terrorized."
They can and do. A whistle is not sexual harassment. Neither is "Hey baby, smile."
Terrorize? You really want to use such a stupidly over-kill type of word for that?
Oligonicella,
They can and do. A whistle is not sexual harassment. Neither is "Hey baby, smile."
While I agree with you, the results of workplace litigation for sexual harassment don't.
i have never understood a man`s need to whistle or cat-call at a pretty woman...and frankly it pisses me off when men do it when i`m around because i get lumped in with them when they do.
If i find a woman pleasant to look at, i will enjoy her presence and leave her alone...
...but what`s with women and power?
feeling inadequate?
someone has been waving the "power" carrot at women for some time now, and it is screwing with their minds.
regarding the video game; if a person wants to play that game then fine, at least they aren`t out in public causing trouble.
All my power comes from self-control. Nobody can take that away.
Trey
Gary Cruse --
"While I agree with you, the results of workplace litigation for sexual harassment don't."
Which has exactly nothing to do with men and women out on the street, the topic at hand.
L -- Don't conflate a request with an order.
Oligonicella said...
Gary Cruse --
"While I agree with you, the results of workplace litigation for sexual harassment don't."
Which has exactly nothing to do with men and women out on the street, the topic at hand.
Defining catcalling (or not) as harassment depending on where it takes place seems to be the sort of muddle-headed nuance that has turned us into a nation of victims.
Quite the opposite.
Put on your shorts, tank-top and flip-flops and go to work in corporate - see what happens. Do the same thing on the street and see. Things differ from work and play, jes the way it is.
What we see with the victimhood mentality is the willingness and desire to move that HR legal bullshit into everyday lives.
This comment has been removed by the author.
The game is funny. Maybe you boys and Helen need to get a sense of humor.
Anti-feminists are dumb.
Hank --
Feminists are banal. What's your point?
What was I saying earlier about manginas?
I think it's pretty simple.
Women can walk down the street wearing whatever they want. That's their right to self-determination. Men just have to deal with it.
Men can say whatever the hell they want in reaction to what some woman is wearing. That's their right to self-determination. Women just have to deal with it.
Now if you are going to say that men can't have a right to self-determination in what they say, then women no longer can have a right to self-determination in what they wear. So throw on a burka and I promise not to catcall.
Any ladies here ever take a stroll through Rome? Or boarded a train in Greece?
Come on. The US is baby cakes when it comes to street level stuff like this.
My favorite quote: It's latent misogyny that happens in big cities; it takes my power away.
Uh, Leigh...if it can be taken away that easily, it's not power. Power is precisely that expression of will which cannot easily be taken or resisted.
Feminists are dumb.
TO: Dr. Helen, et al.
RE: Too 'Phooney'
Where's Armed Liberal, when we REALLY need him?
He should be coming to the defense of these ladies, telling us they're 'Just Kidding'. Like he did years ago when some feminist was suggesting that all men should be chemically neutered.
And, I'll wager dollars to donuts that if we took his 'just kidding' approach he could justify Helen Thomas' recent 'comment' about Hebrews.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[The Truth will out....but sometimes it takes a few years....]
P.S. I do recall that Thomas claimed her remark was a 'joke', i.e., 'just kidding'.
My eldest daughter tried that one on me when she was in her daddy's-little-girl period. I taught her a quick lesson on that one by suggesting we call go to a famous amusement park and then, later, when she asked when, I said, "Just kidding...."
No more of THAT act.
Note that there is no video game where men can shoot the ex-wife who took all his money even though the MAN DID NOT WANT A DIVORCE.
Women are so full of projection it is nauseating.
Misandry is far more rampant than misogyny.
"Note that there is no video game where men can shoot the ex-wife who took all his money even though the MAN DID NOT WANT A DIVORCE."
------
I agree with your sentiments, but I wish men would see the following: She didn't take your money via court order when she divorced you, she took your money from you when you signed onto the fiction that she produces half in the marriage and you got married.
If she's doing the "hardest job in the world" as a sit-on-her-fat-ass housewife, and you really believe that, then she is entitled to more than half.
I can't understand why men go along with, even create and promote, this fiction, but come divorce time they do realize it's a fiction.
Back on topic:
Lots of women - and read Cham's comment at the top - think it's perfectly obvious that women should be able to do whatever the hell they want, whenever they want, and men's behavior has to be controlled, even to the point of not allowing them to express themselves.
Some women get an ego kick (since they have nothing else of value in their personalities / intelligence / lives) in flaunting their sexuality to men. Can't touch this, boys.
If men harass her back (and I suspect some catcalling involves that - a crude response to her nonsense) then all of a sudden IT'S NOT FAIR.
Women have rights and men have responsibilities. And both men and women are going to enforce that.
Tether,
"Lots of women - and read Cham's comment at the top - think it's perfectly obvious that women should be able to do whatever the hell they want, whenever they want, and men's behavior has to be controlled, even to the point of not allowing them to express themselves."
This is an adult version of the "I'm not touching you!!!" game where a child will put his/her hand close to their sibling but not actually touch, so that rules like "don't touch your brother" don't come into effect.
Tether,
Until men figure it out (which I doubt they'll do since they're increasingly thinking with only their dicks), they'll continue to get burned. I don't really have that much sympathy for those idiots. We can only help ourselves. I don't plan on getting into a relationship, ever, so I'm doing my part. Is it a sweeping statement? Yes, but then there are way too many of them out there that can wipe you out. Better to avoid the minefield completely than to try to traverse a safe passage through it.
Something about those rubies looking better all the time...
I wonder if the author is brave enough to admit that the perpetrators of this type of harrassment are not spread equally among all cultures, and that if an accurate game were to be made, those certain cultures would have to be overrepresented in the gunsights. The resultant "feminist" game would look like a KKK wet dream.
Nah, she could never admit that. It would be fun to watch her head 'asplode as the internal contraditions build, tho.
The way I see it, these women that get all offended from these catcalls are all stuck on themselves, I mean don't women wear sexy clothes and put tons of makeup on just to get noticed and when they do get noticed they bitch about it Duh.....
One of the other bloggers said that they only get mad at the wrong type of guy doing the calling I believe that is true also. I walked into a local bar where I always go with my friends after every company softball game, and this one woman catcalls me as I walked into the bar, and I remembered how good it felt to be noticed in front of everybody like that.
Only a women can turn this into something bad!! But this is what I say to any woman who gets offended by catcalls, try walking in a man's shoes, men don’t get very many catcalls from women at all and if men stopped catcalling women completely then they would quickly want them back so too all you women out there stop thinking about just yourself!!!. Just Selfish!!!! Unbelievable!
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