I don't have to deal with this much, the relationships between men and women thing. My friends are girls, I now live with girls, and I don't have a boyfriend to worry about (not in that way but from what I've heard, boyfriends are....work...some of the time). I live quite a male-secluded life. There are men on my course, as there were in my old one, but as you can tell from my single status nothing's ever come of it, they're colleagues, people I am forced to see 5 days a week and then I get a Masters in return.
The relationship between men and women is a long stretching, complicated, dangerous, sensitive, and at times rewarding one, but how long has it taken us all to get to this questionable truce? Hundreds of thousand of years, folks! I do not consider myself a die-hard feminist, I simply believe in human equality and the right to make independent choices. Women have had a notoriously oppressive history, seen as nothing but objects, deemed as "imperfect versions of men" (thanks Christianity), and restrained from reaching their full potential. The world isn't like that now, this is the 21st Century and the bickering and fights between the sexes should be over.
In an ideal world yes, and although in economy, jobs and family life, etc, we all are, but what about the contentious area of actual inter-sex relationships? I'm making this post sound so serious when it's not. This post is simply about wolf-whistling and inappropriate methods of flirting with the other sex. Unfortunately due to my limited time spent out in the real world I've been sheltered from the true horrors of inter-flirting, at least I think that but I have been told differently by several of my friends who have seen me oblivious to the flirting of the opposite sex (yes, I am that girl).
Living a life as a semi-hermit has its perks, it also has its understandable disadvantages. I went to the local supermarket for an extension to my weekly shopping usually done in Aldi (I love you Aldi but sometimes...you know....you just aren't enough). Everything was good, I bought too many tins of soup, and smoothie's that just jumped miraculously into my hands of their own volition, I swear. Walking back down the busy road to my flat I was changing my Ipod, innocent, in my own little cloud world when boom! or rather Honk!
I don't know if it's common in other countries to be beeped by passing cars, lorries, trucks. It comes in different forms in vehicles, the most frightening and obvious one is of course the ominous engine rev. It's the vehicular form of a wolf-whistle. Was it, or is it, appropriate for men to still do this to women walking on the street? On this line of thought is the outdated wolf whistle still appropriate?
I think even women are divided on this issue; some see it as a compliment, which I suppose it is, whilst others see it as an insult of one kind or another, a kind of objectification. All I can say is that I was utterly gobsmacked. This has never happened to me in such an obvious form. I was the only one on the pavement and he was looking directly at me. The first thing I said was "did that just happen?". I thought it was funny, don't get me wrong, slightly gross but funny.
It was more of the shock of it happening that inspired me to write this post than any other motive. At least I haven't heard one of those awful pick-up lines dropped, I would burst into laughter right in front of the poor sod. The fact that it was a middle-aged guy, the fact that in all of the older movies you see the guys wolf-whistling, is it an outdated thing, beeping horns and whistling? Is it as common for women to do? Men seem to be more under the influence of their impulses, they can't control them as well as women seem to, for the most part. I've seen attractive men and I don't start making noises in their direction. Where did this culture come from anyhow?
Although my story is mild, very very mild, do you have an embarrassing story like it? Did you get dropped a pick-up line when he was being serious (you poor thing)? Do you think it is outdated?
