I explained that; it seems to most often take the form of homophobia or queer/trans-phobia.
Minneapolis is the most gay-friendly city in the country, and a deep, dark shade of blue. We don't have a lot of gay-on-random-man harassment here, and I haven't heard of it in any substantial amount elsewhere. Gay people know what it's like to feel marginalized.
Well... To be fair, most "random guys" don't look like the one in the OP video either. :lol:
Yes, that's harassment. I imagine if it was something that had happened only a couple times, I might feel similarly to you, just like I do when any random and uncommon display of rudeness happens -- that doesn't bug me and it might even be funny. It's a one-off occurrence.
But that's not how it is for women, or certain men. It's the commonness of it that is the problem, and it indicates a social problem in that there are really quite a lot of men who feel it's acceptable to do. It's not just some random dumb teen, or some tweaker guy. There are enough of them that it might happen literally every time you go outside. That's a systemic social problem, not random rude people.
Noticing people versus forcing yourself into their world are two very different things.
A major problem with your idea here is that the attention in question isn't always unwanted. Some women (and men) actually enjoy it, and will respond positively to such advances.
No offense, but in that regard, I think your definition of "harassment" is rather broad.
For example, I am an introvert, somewhat uptight by nature, and was taught against making a spectacle of myself. As such, I'd never even
dream of "catcalling."
However, I have, while out on the town in a state of buzzed over-confidence, approached strange women (sometimes even on the street) on a whim when they have particularly struck my fancy. Now, granted, it didn't work out very well for me, so I quickly learned not to do so.
I still wouldn't call that "harassment" though.
I introduced myself, made clear my interest, and asked for their number. When they indicated that they were
not interested, I thanked them for their time, and went on my merry way.
I figured, "nothing ventured, nothing gained." :shrug:
Yes. Actually, an upper scale suburban neighborhood were where my earliest experiences with harassment happened, and also some of my worst to this day.
A certain entitled mindset common to such neighborhoods can make some people feel much more empowered to try to degrade others.
You know about my busker friends from back in the day and all that, right? A couple of them were actually making very good money, but a lot of them were poor, a few were homeless, etc. Not a rich crowd overall. And certainly a very city crowd.
I have never experienced less harassment in my life. Not even once, in an entire 9 months.
It depends entirely on the social ethos, which have nothing to do with money.
This is anecdotal, and therefore unverifiable one way or the other.
Needless to say, however, I am skeptical that the average young woman will run across many suburban soccer dads prone to "holla at a bitch" in the same way that some other sub-cultural groups would.
