It's not a compliment

Today's post is a little different and is something that has been on my mind lately... Since my recent stint living in France, I have become much much more aware of 'catcalling' - when a comment of a sexual nature is directed at you, most often in a public place. Girls, i'm sure a lot of you have experienced this at some point in your lives whether its the classic wolf whistle, car horn honk, or general comment about your appearance.

When I was living in France I really noticed that it is definitely part of 'everyday life' in Europe; for me I rarely could walk around the city without hearing comments such as 'so beautiful' (when alone, definitely not seen a compliment), 'sexy lady', and even on the very rare occasion being followed. Don't get me wrong, I have noticed this in England also, just definitely not the same extreme.

Although I like to think I am quite a confident person and I can mostly brush off things like that by ignoring it, I feel it has deifnitely made me look at male strangers in a different way, especially those who are not my age. Instead of seeing them as any other person on the street, when I am alone and in an unfamiliar place, particularly at night, I feel my guard go up, which when you think about it is incredibly sad. 

Although I know 99% of catcalling will never amount to anything more than that - it's still something that I feel needlessly makes women feel vulnerable, self-conscious, and even scared - and it's become all too frequent in today's society.

There is quite an interesting video about this matter here where the roles are reversed. Even-though it's quite funny to watch at parts, it's definitely thought provoking about what is acceptable as all of these scenarios are real-life experiences of women's 'normal' lives.

What do you think about Catcalling? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Alice x