I see anti street harassment campaigns in Europe (and the US at least what is made available in media/ blogs) and one thing systematically irks me about them: they never take into account cultural nuance. What I mean is, I grew up in a culture where we were/ are brought up under the notion that the amount of unwanted street attention was a measure of one’s “beauty”/ “desirability”. This is quite common across all of South America’s major metropolitan areas. As in, we would go out with peers and friends and getting no whistles or catcalls would mean we weren’t looking “good” that day. Mothers would not actively promote this, but would tacitly agree on such premise.
So now, I see all these campaigns against catcalls and unwanted attention and yes, I agree, they are necessary and a good thing, but what use do they have among populations where this behavior is seen under a “less negative” light? And what about the women (and oh believe me, there ARE women who believe this, as I once did) who actually buy into this idea? Because Hollaback is all proud of its global reach and achievements, but there is no addressing of these issues in their discourse.
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