I'm pretty sure if I walked around for 10 hours on crowded city streets, I'd have dozens of passerbys who would say "hi" or "good morning" as well.
Some of those guys were creeps, but just saying "Hi" is problem?
LoL
Many of those "catcalls" were far from what I would call harassment, as she claims. There were several that I would agree with her on but I think that would be less than half of them, or maybe 2-3 minutes (or 7-8 including that 5 minutes stalker weirdo) out of the 10 hours she walked around town.
People like this need to go to jail or serve some community service for harassing women who have no interest in them or their lame ass catcalls.
If only there were a place where you could talk to women that wasn't a random public street.
Where is this magical place pray tell?
I don't know. Maybe I should start one. Could be some money in it, especially if the alternative is catcalling becomes passe and the species is threatened with extinction.
So there is no acceptable place to talk to women? Gotcha.
Cute baristas at Starbucks wouldnt look at me, business men on bicycles ran over me and college students hurriedly backed away from me with mumbled apologies whenever I tried to strike up a conversation about the weather or ask for directions. They wouldnt even give me the time of day. Literally.
Youve got to be assertive, my Japanese girlfriends advised. Japanese guys are shy so you have to make the first move. So I smiled invitingly at men in bars and on busses. I asked for help reading restaurant menus and subway signs.
Do you have any book / drink reccomendatioins? was my usual line as I stood near them in bookstores or sat next to them on barstools. But the come hither stare or conversation starter doesnt work if the other person refuses to look at you. If they met my gaze at me at all, it was just to shoot me this panicked look, like Id just asked them to father my unborn children. My boss had been right. It was hard to be a single, western woman in Japan. But why?
And this is what an American girl thinks when she doesn't get any male attention in Japan.
http://www.vagabondish.com/female-foreign-japan/
"Last week, I was walking up Rogers Ave in Crown Heights, when a guy walking in the opposite direction told me I was 'Looking good, girl.' I ignored him and kept walking. He turned around, and started following me up the block yelling, 'That was a compliment, bitch. I know you can fucking hear me. What, would you rather I throw a brick at your head?' I remember thinking to myself, 'Well, that escalated quickly.' I'd say I get harassed at least 5-10 times daily. It's like breathing." — Robin Wellington
....
I'll just leave this here.
A possible alternative explanation: it might just be because the japanese are racist mother fuckers.
He believes that it would be the same thing if it was women catcalling men. That's the role reversal he's talking about. But that's not the same thing at all. Women are not men, and this behavior is inappropriate for men.
I dont do it.
19 more for pm
I can't help but wonder how some of these "catcalls" would be received if they were coming from attractive, wealthy white men
It'd be like this.
And this is what an American girl thinks when she doesn't get any male attention in Japan.
http://www.vagabondish.com/female-foreign-japan/
It's slightly disturbing that some guys see literally no difference between a public sidewalk and an app that people intentionally download and use solely to find people to fuck. "Haha, these chicks on Tinder want to bang, therefore chicks love catcalls!" Yeah, and some guys on Craigslist like dressing in diapers and having hairy men spank them, so clearly that's something we're all into. If we weren't into it, why would men make those posts? Maybe it's because some people are into some fucked up shit, but they're not necessarily representative of the general population and you shouldn't treat them as such? It's not as much fun as generalizing, but you may come off looking like less of an asshole.