Right-Wing Media Defend Street Harassment With Their Own Catcalls

Right-wing media responded to a recent public service announcement depicting a woman's experiences with street harassment by questioning whether the encounters amounted to harassment at all and adding their own catcalls to the chorus of abuse.

On October 27, Hollaback, a national organization whose mission is to “end street harassment” released a PSA featuring the catcalling and harassment one woman faced over the course of 10 hours while walking around New York City as recorded by a hidden video camera concealed in the bag of somebody walking ahead of her. 

Conservative media figures responded to the video's depictions of over 100 instances of harassment with disbelief, claiming that the men featured in the video were “simply being polite,” that there was “nothing disrespectful” about street harassment, and even commenting themselves on the woman's appearance with proclamations like, “Damn, baby, you're a piece of woman.”