this is ladies night: Who are these guys?

10.28.2008

Who are these guys?

In addition to thinking about what happens on Halloween night, I want to encourage bloggers to think about what role race plays in cat-calling and how cat-calling/hollering makes you feel. Barbara Perry notes that the sexuality of men of color/nonwhite men is often constructed as "dangerous," or they're portrayed as oversexed (In the Name of Hate). Do you think this is true? How does this affect a woman's (or your) decisions to go out at night alone, or your fear of men hollering (if you do fear it)? It would be interesting to hear viewpoints on this idea and how race affects how you perceive the cat-calling. Does the race of the guy who's calling affect whether you feel fearful? If you picture a guy cat-calling who is he? And you don't have to focus on race. Is he rich, poor? Old or young? Why do you think of him like this? Feel free to discuss!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: A friend of mine told me she dreads walking around her neighborhood because there are all these men hissing and hollering at her. She says she just puts on her ipod and ignores them. She also specified that her assailants are black and hispanic men, to which I asked if she thought that made it more uncomfortable for her, or if she wouldn't feel as uncomfortable if the cat-callers were white. She replied that the 'race' of the men doesn't make her more uncomfortable, but its just different, and that black and hispanic men are more likely to cat-call.

These comments sound a little biased but I'd bet many people have felt this way or have thought along these lines one time or another. Thoughts?; November 5, 2008 at 2:17 PM
Anonymous said...: I live in an area of London, UK, which has a large eastern European population; one of the main streets seems to be the male 'hangout', where they stand around all day making unwanted and inappropriate comments about women who walk past. I hate walking down there - I just know that every time I do I'll get some unwanted attention, just for going about my business. What riles me is: the fact that I acknowledge there is a cultural difference here, leading to such behaviour, makes me in some way 'racist'. There are 'subcultures' in every culture: there are harrassing white men, of course there are! But the heavy bias towards eastern European men in this area makes it obvious AND provides a place in which their behaviour towards women is constantly reinforced and applauded by their peers. I hate the fact that this specific 'sub-demographic' of men have made me become wary of other men, sometimes based on their race. The problem is education (and I say this about all harrassers, background unimportant) - it's not clear to them that their attitude to women isn't cool and the flippant attitude of people generally allows it to continue - but we're not allowed to pinpoint any groups for education in case it's politically incorrect....; April 13, 2010 at 2:37 PM

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You CAN handle the truth:

"Violence is but one means by which men as a class enforce conformity of women as a class. Moreover, it is not necessary for all men to engage in violence against women, since the very threat of violent censure is constantly with women. Violence against women, then, is indeed a "classic" form of hate crime, since it too terrorizes the collective by victimizing the individual. In so doing, hate crime against women reaffirms the priviledge and superiority of the male perpetrator with respect to the female victim" (Perry "In the Name of Hate," 2001:83).

"Harassment becomes a frequent response to women's invasion of male bastions. It is a means to simultaneously create a particular masculinity and enforce a particular exclusive femininity...Men often perceived sexual harassment of women as a well-deserved response to their economic and professional advances. Their encroachment into male realms interferes with, indeed calls into question, men's ability to prove themselves to be men" (Perry "In the Name of Hate," 2001:91).

"Sexual Harassment allows for the reassertion of masculinity and femininity, and especially the 'natural' differences between the two...it reassures men that they are at once heterosexual and empowered, and [reminds] the women that they are sexual objects." Many women do not report harassment and simply stay away from the harasser/place of harassment instead of seeking out justice (Perry "In the Name of Hate," 2001:91).

"'Prejudice' is a hostile attitude directed specifically toward the members of an outgroup" (Jack Levin, "The Violence of Hate," Page 1)

"Gender-motivated violence is a mechanism that perpetuates the marginalization of women, gay men and lesbians. Moreover, gender motivated hate crime also provides a very useful resource for doing gender, especially for accomplishing hegemonic masculinity." (Barbara Perry, "In the Name of Hate," Page 5)

A bit radical but still resonates truth: "From prehistoric times to the present...rape has played a critical function. It is nothing more or less than a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear." (Brownmiller 1975:14-15 in McPhail, B. (2002) in Perry, "Hate and Bias Crime: A Reader," Page 267)

"Although not all women are raped, most women fear rape. (Gordon & Riger, 1989). Women alter their daily lives in numerous ways to avoid the violent behavior of men. Choundas (1995) noted, 'While potential victims of racial, ethnic, or religious violence might attempt to avoid certain neighborhoods in which prejudice might run particularly rampant, women remain safe from street harassment and violent assault only by straying out of those areas known as public' (pp1090-1091). And yet, even in "private," women are not safe from the hands of intimate partners. Again, this intimate relationship often cloaks the reality of the violence" (McPhail, B. (2002) in Perry, "Hate and Bias Crime: A Reader," p271).