This is a comment by Mike L on the post “Why Men Catcall“.
“There is no question that ‘cat calling’ is objectively stupid. There’s no reason for it, society would be better off if it didn’t happen, and it’s grossly unfair that women have to suffer this behavior. But that doesn’t mean that ‘calling men out’ is the solution either.
“Look at the list of speculative causes:
“[I]t’s a competition-fueled performance of masculinity (which is why catcallers will often be in a group of men), a man wants to assert his power over a woman, a guy wants to get any kind of attention (whether positive or negative) from a woman he deems ‘out of his league’ (or beyond his social status), or he is simply grossly misinformed about how to communicate with the opposite sex.”
“With the exception of the last possible cause, all of these point to a societal deficiency in the way that men are treated. Whether is the ‘straight jacked of masculinity’ or frustration at the female privilege possessed by a woman ‘out of his league,’ the cause is properly characterized as societal in nature. Yet the proposed solution is individual: call out the specific man who is acting out.
“This seems not unlike the policy of dealing with drug use by ‘calling out’ individual drug users for arrest and prosecution. You attack the individual without going after the larger institutions that lead people to abuse drugs in the first place.
“So, if you believe that the solution to issues like ‘poverty’ or ‘drug use’ is to go after the individuals who are actually destitute or abusing drugs, and blame them for their behavior, then by all means ‘call out’ men who cat call. But if you think that maybe individuals act in response to the institutions they live under, maybe it’s worth going after those institutions before we start to ‘call out’ individual men.”
Photo credit: Flickr / mattdipasquale
Ok – who kidnapped Mike L’s identity and wrote the above Communist Manifesto?
elissa,
I can assure you that no one stole my identity. I’ve simply found that people are more willing to acknowledge their own inconsistencies when you borrow their language.
So if you outright say “This seems very inconsistent with other recommendations you have made,” you’re likely to get a bunch of stubborn denials.
But if you instead say “This seems inconsistent with the ideas of privilege and intersectionality,” you make the same point but suddenly people take notice.
You’re right to say that this points to a societal institution, but please don’t get caught up mansplaining and competing in the oppression Olympics. This has nothing to do with “female privilege” (which is barely a legitimate thing); institutions are made by privileged men to protect men and their privileges. If you want the system to change, it’s still up to the privileged people who made it, not the oppressed people who get harassed because of it.
You’re going to have to go back quite a few centuries in your time machine to get the guys who put all of this in place to change things then.
As for barely a legitimate thing, everyone has privilege of one form or another. Contrast the glass ceiling keeping women from being in the top 1% vs the glass floor keeping them from being in the bottom 1%.
mclicious,
By definition, privilege is “invisible to those who possess it.” Thus it’s not very surprising to me that your privilege is invisible to you. Maybe try some introspection?
Thanks, but as a Jewish woman of color getting two graduate degrees, not only do I spend a lot of my personal time knowing perfectly well what privileges I have and don’t have, but I also spend my professional time doing the same thing.
And still you honestly believe that female privilege is “barely a legitimate thing”? Despite a large number of men telling you that it’s very real and omnipresent?
Maybe try listening to others more? It sounds like you’re pretty wrapped up in your own experience, and that can really lead to close-mindedness.
Yes, because when I talk about privilege, I’m talking about it in the context of systems of oppression, and there has been no system of oppression that puts men below women. None. If you want to talk about little tiny social privileges, yes, there is some white girl privilege and female privilege and whatever, but I was under the impression we were talking about systems and institutions. Also, you are obnoxious and rude and really are not making me impressed with you by talking down to me like I’m a child. However, you are asserting your privilege over me by… Read more »
I’m so sorry that you believe name calling with words like “obnoxious” and “rude” will somehow convince people that you are correct. I’d like to give you some advice: it won’t.
Then again, your claim that you are “not impressed” seems to suggest that you believe I should be required to impress you. That sense of entitlement on your part is a great example of female privilege. Hopefully, you will be able to see this as a “teaching moment” and carry out the introspection I suggested above