Love Cat Videos but Hate Catcalling: How Millennials Have the Power to Change the Status Quo

It was 7:15 in the morning in the middle of the week. I was walking down North Ave in New Rochelle. It was chilly; I was wearing a long jacket and boots and carrying my colorful tie-dye backpack (not like what I was wearing actually makes a difference though). In the long seven minutes that it took me to walk to Iona’s campus, I was honked at three times.

The first time, I thought maybe something was wrong. Was my backpack unzipped? Was all my stuff going to fall out? Did I have toilet paper on my shoe, or hanging out of my jacket? After the second, and then the third time, I realized there was nothing wrong. I was just a 20-something year old girl walking down the street and apparently, this makes it okay for men driving by, sitting at the car wash, and waiting in the Dunkin parking lot to honk at me.

Now this isn’t the first time this has happened to me. I’ve been honked at, hollered at, whistled at, winked at, and more, many times walking on the street in my 22 years of life. And it’s not just me who has had this experience. I’d bet any woman you ask can tell you about a time she was catcalled.

Every woman has her own way of dealing with catcalling. My go-to, as I think is the same for most women, is to ignore it. I do have one friend, however, who is prone to shouting back obscenities and throwing up her middle finger. She’s braver than I.

The problem with catcalling is much deeper than the objectification of women walking down the street. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” we say. But what if words turn into something else? Not only are women being objectified, but we are also made, in our daily lives, to feel afraid, to feel unsafe.

All women, again, can attest to feeling afraid while walking around, going about their daily lives. Walking in the dark, walking alone, walking by a man who gives you a second look, all of these scenarios can make women feel afraid and vulnerable, like at any minute you could end up the tragedy on the 6 o’clock news.

That may be a bit dramatic, but it’s a legitimate fear women have, and it certainly stems from being catcalled on the street. And honestly, it sucks. It is a terrible thing to have to be afraid, to feel the need to carry pepper spray, to hold our keys like knives, in case someone sneaks up behind you. I know personally, I am terrified of parking garages. Part of this fear, I’ll admit, is due to watching way too much crime TV. However, it’s still a legitimate fear; parking garages are dark, quiet, not many people around, and therefore, it would be easy for some guy to approach me, and there wouldn’t be much I could do.

So what does this have to do with being a Millennial? This isn’t a uniquely Millennial problem, right? Women of all ages and generations are catcalled. Catcalling isn’t anything new.

While catcalling may be a universal-female issue, Millennials have the power and the ability to do something meaningful about it. As the generation born and raised in the digital age (you know, those people obsessed with cat videos?), the Internet gives us the ability to expose this issue, connect with one another, and try to make an important change.

With the breadth of the Internet and social media sites like Facebook, women can now share their stories about catcalling and other sexist harassment they experience. Sharing our stories online, achieves two ends.

First, women can connect and realize that catcalling and other harassment isn’t just a locational or personal experience. It isn’t just happening to you, it’s happening to every woman. With the power of the Internet, a woman in the United States can read about the experience of a woman in India, or Australia, or anywhere worldwide. And men can get in on the fight too! Men can see and read about women sharing their discomfort and then speak up in the face of catcalling.

Second, sharing harassment experiences online gives us the power to call out these harassers and draw attention to the heart of the issue. We all can form a community against sexism and use the Internet to drive change. Remember the students who protested for gender-equal dress code at Buchanan High School? The students shared pictures of their protest online and it soon became a viral story, even showing up on sites like CNN.

Just like these students, we can use the Internet to our advantage. We can write and sign petitions, email lawmakers, share stories on Facebook and Twitter, and blog about our experiences. The possibilities are endless.

This isn’t to say we won’t face harassment from “trolls” on the Internet for our anti-sexism initiatives. I remember the viral video, “10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman,” faced relentless criticism. People ignored the fact that the video drew attention to the street harassment women face everyday and instead, they accused it of being fake, and staged, and on and on.

However, as Millennials, we are resilient, determined, and passionate about fighting for issues that matter to us. We already have started to demand change in our sharing of stories, protest of injustice, and support for people who have the power to enact change at a higher level.

Take Emma Watson’s HeForShe campaign: the Internet and the use of the #HeForShe has helped promote this initiative and spread it all around the world. Millennials don’t give up. We sure aren’t going to let catcallers stop us. Let’s use what we know and change the status quo.