After reading the title of this video, I immediately had bad feelings about it. Do I always expect the worst? Probably. Am I cynical and polemic? Probably. But, when I read this title, behind its lines I understood this:
“your chicks. Look at your chicks being catcalled by other men who want YOUR CHICKS”.
The message I got is: ‘women are, indeed, being catcalled. We all know that. But, if the catcalled-woman is your woman, well, that’s another story’.
Why are boys and men only sensitive to this topic when it’s their girlfriend, the one who is being catcalled? Is it because they care about her, or is because she’s their property and no one should look at her? As I have said before, I am more prone into thinking about the worst option. In fact, after actually watching the video, I do believe it’s all about property (of course I am not trying to lump everyone together, there are some exceptions, as proven by some comments I received after sending this video to some –male- friends of mine). In greater details, I immediately interpreted the first and last guy’s behaviors’ more like a ‘she is mine, do not watch her or touch her”.
Let’s take a step back and analyze the whole video.
First video: the guy is defensive. I cannot help but interpret his reactions as ‘she is mine, get away from her’. He seems to be more jealous than sad.
Second video: the guy is genuinely shocked and sad (but again, I cannot help but wonder: what if it had happened to another woman?).
Third video: I can’t even. It is obvious that she is HIS woman (but who could also be “somebody’s daughter, somebody’s sister” as said in min. 1.31. As if being a human being wasn’t enough for being respected). The article also suggests that ‘Miguel is very protective of Amy, right from the start’. I honestly do not see it in this way, to me he is just arrogant and assertive.
So, when I finish watching the video, I proceed reading the comments. I have always liked to know and read other people’s reactions to these kind of video. In this specific case I did it hoping to find someone who shared my point of view. And to be honest, various people did notice those guys possessiveness, as well as the fact that an act like catcalling needs men’s approval to be considered as real “So, us women can get outraged now because a few guys get upset?? We have validation now?”
I also found comments like:
‘We are human being and should be respected as such’.
Which is the less explicit version of:
‘I should be treated with decency while walking down the street NOT because I’m someone’s daughter, but because I’M A FUCKING HUMAN BEING’.
It is interesting to notice how such a project, with a specific purpose, ends up spreading a different message. I mean, it is probably because of me always seeing the negative side of things, but it really left a bad taste in my mouth.
