Cat Calls don’t impress, they come off as creepy

When boys hit a certain age, it’s time to grow-up and act like gentlemen. 

A friend of mine works at the Best Western here in Chadron, and often sees characters of all sorts come through. Two weeks ago, she texted me about the football team that was staying in their hotel.

“I’ve been called baby, babe, honey, sweetie, and gotten winked at so many times tonight it’s ridiculous. The football players are nice with ‘ma’am’ and ‘miss’ and even… ‘Katie’… the coaches however…”

I was shocked. It seems that the idea that boys eventually mature and grow into men is a completely false one.

First off, I’m personally not even really a fan of pet names when I’m in a relationship with someone. I think the same could be said for a lot of women. So what in the world would make someone think that a woman would appreciate being called by a pet name when she doesn’t even know the guy.

I had the same experience when I worked at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has name tags with huge, blocky, blue letters on them. They can be read from a good 5 aisles away. And yet, a thirty-some year old man standing directly in front of me kept calling me “sweetie” and “doll” when I was ringing him up.

As the rampant feminazi that 90 percent of this campus proclaims me to be (thank you, by the way), pet names irk me. Read “A Doll’s House” if your humanities class hasn’t already forced you to, and you’ll see why. Pet names sound like something boys use to belittle women, make them seem smaller and more inconsequential than they really are.

Not only that, pet names from an older stranger are just creepy. Aren’t these people supposed to be married?

I realize that not all women will agree with me, but it is fair to say that some women don’t appreciate pet names for these very reasons.

Even worse than pet names are wandering eyes. While walking through Omaha with the same friend, we walked past two gray-haired men sitting with their beers outside a pub. Both of us clammed up when we noticed that the men were looking our exposed legs up and down. On Halloween last year, I was approached by a drunk man older than my father who flopped down beside me, and had a conversation with my cleavage.

A recent project done by Hannah Price, a photographer in Philadelphia, shows a series of photos of men who have catcalled her. She says that the point of her photos were to show men how it feels to be vulnerable, the way that a woman feels when she’s being catcalled.

Although I can’t speak for all women, I can say that myself and other people I’ve talked to often react to catcalls, pet names, whistles, and other awkward sexual advances negatively. It makes us feel vulnerable and uncomfortable.

So you’d think that grown men, having a few more years on this planet, would have learned to behave more like gentlemen than like boys.

Apparently not. Meanwhile, the football boys from CSU-Pueblo acted like perfect gentlemen. I had the same experience with them that my friend did. While I was waiting on them, the boys would respectfully say “thank you ma’am” or “excuse me, miss.” If they couldn’t see my name tag, they would address me, and other women working, with complete respect. And they were our age.

This is a pleasant surprise. At least some boys are learning how to act like men, even if some men are still acting like boys.

I would hope that more boys approach me, be it when I am working or even in a situation where they are trying to show attraction, with respect.

My point is, to all you boys out there, don’t end up like some meathead old man. No girl wants to feel creeped out by some random guy. Don’t be that random guy.