Within an article found in People, a woman in NYC was catcalled, followed and told she had “good legs” when she was fully covered, wearing a long parka and tall boots. Her Instagram picture has gone viral as she highlights on the sickening perceptions that individuals place on a woman’s body, and their appearance.
Christen Brandt’s story, pleads for the realization that the female body is often assumed to be sexual and sensual, despite what the woman chooses to wear or how she wishes to look. Often times people attribute femininity to showing skin or wearing sexy outfits, however this article displays that a woman can still receive negative gestures even if they are fully clothed and not showing any skin at all.
I too saw this post shared through Facebook. Fully clothed, yet like you said, “assumed to be sexual and sensual, despite what the woman chooses to wear or how she wishes to look.” When I think about this post, I think about the “asking for it” campaign where women do walk around in controversial outfits and exploit the fact that they’re still not asking for it, as in being viewed as an object. This article just goes to prove that even in a covering parka, she is asking for nothing, yet still talked to as an object.
I love how this blog post and the article attached prove that it doesn’t matter what you wear, you can still be harassed.
In high school I remember we (girls) were not allowed to show our shoulders or too much of our legs. The schools seem to draw certain clothes with femininity. When doing this they also accuse guys as having a specific motive or drive that has become a “social norm” but also one that is “okay” and “not their fault”.
I specifically became frustrated with this rule my junior year of high school. It was finals week in the hot month of June and I had ONE exam to take that day. I came to school in short shorts (that didn’t even show my butt) because I figured I was barely going to be there and didn’t want to die of heat. Once an assistant principal saw, I was forced to take my exam in the in school suspension (ISS) room. It was frustrating because no matter what we (girls) wore, some guys would still catcall us in the hallway.
Another connection I made was that I love that this shows it doesn’t matter what you wear because I think it is another step in the right direction for justification of rape attacks. The media and society make comments like “well she dressed slutty, what do you expect?” or “she asked for it the way she dressed.”. It’s nice to have proof that no it doesn’t have to do with what she wore, she could be wearing anything — she is still the victim.
Hey Brittany,
I really enjoyed reading your post, and sadly probably will never understand this guy’s logic for catcalling a woman fully clothed like this. All I can say about his actions is that they were simply ignorant and for some reason he thought it was okay to say what he said. It sadly shows, going off what you said, that women will be verbally harassed no matter what they’re wearing. Something like this happening doesn’t surprise me a lot for some reason, but I will say that I really haven’t heard a whole lot of incidents like this. I keep getting the impression that women are still judged based on their looks, while men thrive on showing their dominance, in this case in public with saying what they want to say.
I enjoyed reading your post about the article that you discussed. It is so true that women can sometimes still receive inappropriate gestures or comments about them, simply because they are a woman and not a man. I am sure if a man walked by a group of females wearing clothes that covered all of his body, the comments about him would be limited and not rude. Sometimes, people will make derogatory comments towards women, from how they are dressed to how they act, strictly because women can often be viewed as less capable and less important than men. I think it is important to realize that femininity is not a sign of weakness.
This is a very interesting story. As a male, I have seen and heard the way people objectify women and their bodies, and I do not agree with it. However, I have also noticed that because of some men who catcall girls and disrespectfully “compliment” women, that when a male tries to make a genuine comment about a females appearance, they too are also considered disrespectful. People say that chivalry is dead. I believe that it is not completely extinct, but rather it has been misinterpreted by some males, which has made it difficult to approach a female and compliment her out of fear of being considered rude. Great post! Really got me thinking!
Hey Brittany!
I saw this article online as well, in addition to the picture itself that a Facebook friend had shared. In my opinion, this article and the points that this woman makes are extremely important and true. It seems that in this society, certain articles of clothing or “looks” are thought to be feminine or sexy. Even these appearance norms that have been constructed for women, there seems to be negative attention and responses no matter what is being worn.
Hey Brittany! I really really enjoyed reading this post, I truly thought it was a great way to shed some light that women are not made to be looked as sex objects or objects in general. This actually brought up a recent incident very similar to the one you came across in the people magazine. One of my friends who I attend church with, her sister one day wore leggings to church, and a man came up to her and condemned her for wearing leggings to church and then handed her money to buy some real pants. When I saw this post on facebook I was very offended that someone thought it would be okay to question her confidence and beauty and love for Jesus by giving her twenty dollars. As I reflected on this, I was brought up to believe that God accepts everybody into the church, and I was also brought up to believe that you should never condemn someone for what they look like. This post made me realize that people still objectify women even if they have the best character, and standards in the world. I think it is important to realize that there is more to people than what they wear at the end of the day.
Hi Brittany!
Thanks for sharing this story. I believe that stories like these are so important to share because they let people see how experiences and horror stories like Christen’s happen every day to so many women and girls all over the world. This story made me remember the video of the girl walking on New York City’s streets wearing only a high collar t shirt and long jeans, being catcalled by a large number of men, that went viral. The article that you shared made me think about how big this problem really is, and how important I think it is that we teach men as well as women that girls are not put on this world as objects to be gawked at. I also agree with you on the fact that femininity is associated with skimpy or more skin-tight clothing. I think its important for people to realize that being a woman is more than just wearing dresses and showing skin.