By: Taylor Kuether, Minnesota, USA, SSH Blog Correspondent
Last night I was walking to a friend’s house for her housewarming party. It was a Saturday night and I was dressed to go out – not that that should be relevant. I had done my hair and put on makeup, and I thought I looked pretty good.
I was walking alone, which in my mid-sized college town of about 65,000 people, I’ve always felt safe and comfortable doing. I was walking down the sidewalk on a well-trafficked street full of popular bars. Two men walked around the corner, turning onto the street I was walking along. Instinctively, I quickened my pace and averted my eyes as I walked past them, as I do when I pass anyone on a narrow sidewalk and I’m walking alone.
As I passed them, one of the men said (and these really are his exact words), “Well aren’t you just the prettiest little lady in the whole wide world.”
I had not expected that. I don’t know why I was so caught off guard – maybe because I’d been lost in thought as I walked to my friend’s house, maybe because I’d walked far enough down the street that I was no longer in the heavily-trafficked area and I hadn’t expected to run into anyone, maybe because his words were something straight out of a movie. I mean, who says that?
Taken aback, I laughed. I actually laughed! And it gets worse – I laughed and said “thank you.” What?! Why did I do that? I write for a blog that aims to combat street harassment (thanks for reading, by the way!), and I THANKED a harasser for his comment.
That’s why I’m writing about this. How does one respond to street harassment? What should I have said? I know I handled it all wrong, and I’ve been kicking myself for responding with a laugh and a smile instead of a terse retort in – probably vain – effort to quell his future comments. But I didn’t. I’d been so caught off guard and so surprised by actually hearing such a cliché catcall in real life that my first natural reaction was to laugh.
So, readers, what should I have done? Tweet me @taylorkuether with your thoughts!
[Editor’s Note: There is no “right” or perfect response to street harassment! It’s okay if we don’t always speak out against it, there may be a million reasons why. At SSH we hope people know there are a range of responses to try out and that ultimately the choice is YOURS.]
Taylor Kuether is a senior journalism student at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in northwestern Wisconsin. She has previously written for The Washington Post and Minneapolis’ Star Tribune, worked as a reporter at her city’s daily newspaper, The Leader-Telegram, and its arts and culture publication, VolumeOne, hosted a local-music centered radio show on Wisconsin Public Radio, and worked as Editor-in-Chief at her student newspaper, where she enjoyed writing biting, slightly rant-y columns about feminist issues.
