History of Feminism

Last edited Thu Jul 24, 2014, 04:49 AM - Edit history (1)

detecting powers from a lifetime of experiences and observations.

What this young woman is saying is, fellas, you're just not good enough to say 'hello' to me.

And let's be clear: as the video points out, we're not talking about catcalls, wolf whistles, HeyBaby, or any of hundreds of pathetic cries for attention.

She's talking about 'Hello' or 'Hello ladies'.

I've seen this a thousand times. Some ugly creepy guy says Hello - just Hello and nothing else - it's whip out the mace, call 911, head to YouTube to cry harassment. Good-looking person says Hello, no problem, Hello yourself.

It's a private club, and plain folk aren't welcome.

Now this person has every right to discount and ignore or be offended by anyone she finds icky, and as she makes abundantly clear, she finds Old People (whatever the heck that is) to be nastier than mouldy skunk vomit. Again, her right.

But she's speaking from a position of privilege, of power, of dominance, based entirely on her physical appearance.

That's the only point I want to make. A major component of the quest for equality is about identifying and calling out privilege, and I'm calling it out here. And let me further re-state: I never engage strange women, either with word or eye-contact or even a glance. I completely understand that I'm old and I'm creepy, and I believe that people deserve their privacy, even in public.

On edit: I don't want to discount anyone's experiences as being trivial, and maybe this woman has indeed been extremely put-upon by street harassment. The thing is, there are posters here who've been beaten, assaulted, raped - and they rightly retain a sense of unimaginable violation. In the Grand scale of things, this woman seems like a bit of a whiner to me.