Cross posted on In a Strange Land
I'm not sure what to say about this. A woman in New Zealand was so fed-up with wolf whistles that when she was faced with yet another barrage of them while she was waiting to use an ATM, she stripped naked, completed her bank transaction, put her clothes back on and calmly walked off.
It's an amazing hollaback, but I really would like to know a little more about what happened. I would love to know how the workmen reacted when their bluff was called. It's such an assertion of power on the part of wolf whistlers, claiming the right to comment on a woman's appearance, and viewing her only as an object available for their 'appreciation'. So it's great to see a woman responding in such a strong fashion - "It's my body and I'll do what I damn well want with it and my body is NOT available to you!"
The police spoke to her. She's a tourist, and apparently they explained to her that her behaviour was not acceptable in New Zealand.
Did they speak to the workmen too?
Update: It seems that the woman involved might have some health issues. See Anjum's post about it.
I'd still like to know if the police spoke to the workmen.
5 comments:
ok, i have to admit that i don't get it. if she's saying "...my body is NOT available to you", then why did she give them exactly what they wanted ie a nice view of it for them to feast their eyes on? to me, she just validated what they were doing.
That's exactly why I don't know what to say about it. On the one hand she is showing them her body, then making it very clear that it is not available to them (she put her clothes back on and walked away again) but on the other, they sure got an eye-ful.
So that's why I would like to know a little more about their reaction.
I was irritated by the way the article on Stuff described the workmen as 'overappreciative', because wolfwhistling is generally harassment aimed at women cos they have walked past, not a compliment. Otherwise it would be a case of *one man*, who happened to be a workman, saying 'hey, you look pretty' to a passing woman which can still feel a bit unwelcome but not intimidating and embarassing like having a group of men nudging each other and yelling 'show us your tits' and wolf whistling etc.
from what you've written, it seems to me that she simply encouraged the workmen to keep doing what they've been doing.
I can kinda see that she is reclaiming herself through this act. It certainly shows that she isn't intimidated by them and compared to most of us who just pretend that we can't hear the whistles and try to get on with getting out of there as fast as we can, her act is far more confrontational. I'd like to think that her act was the equivalent of mooning your arse at someone rather than flashing your breasts - exposure of your body to tell someone how little you care about their opinion rather than exposure of your body to try and appease them as an audience.
To really know we need her side of the story. Interesting though.
Post a Comment