We Heart: Catcalling Your Mom to End Street Harassment

[niyad]

We Heart: Catcalling Your Mom to End Street Harassment

Here’s one way to stop street harassers in their tracks: Trick them into catcalling their own mothers—then watch the mama-rage rain down.



That’s the premise of an anti-street-harassment campaign out of Lima, Peru. The video below, first posted on YouTube in Spanish in November (and subtitled in English earlier this month), shows a team tracking down the mothers of some of Lima’s most prolific catcallers, transforming their looks with wigs, makeup and clothes, then sending them out to stroll past their sons.

Two men fall into the “trap,” catcalling their own mothers with such memorable lines as, “Tasty panties!” Watching the moms tell their sons what’s what is a true delight; one of the men even claims it wasn’t him who catcalled, it was a man in a car.

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According to the campaign, 7 in 10 Lima women are harassed on the street in their lifetimes. Here at home, about 65 percent of women say they’ve been harassed in public. In August, Peru’s Council of Ministers passed a bill specifically targeting street harassment. If approved by Congress, the bill would make street harassment punishable under the country’s Criminal Code.

In the U.S., some crimes that fall under the banner of street harassment—such as sexual battery and disorderly conduct—are prohibited by state statutes, but there is no overriding federal or even state-level law that criminalizes street harassment.


http://msmagazine.com/blog/2015/01/27/we-heart-catcalling-your-mom-to-end-street-harassment/

[whathehell]

1. Brilliant strategy!

I love it. It should be done all over.

[niyad]

4. that video was wonderful--loved the way the moms dealt with their sons.

[whathehell]

9. Yes, it was great -- Their moms cut them NO slack & I loved it!

I'd love to see this organized elsewhere. There's a group called "Holla Back" and last I

heard, it's operating globally, even in one middle eastern country, which proves women

around the world HATE this stuff!

I'm going to check in with them and see how they are doing.

I'll get back to you with my results.

[whathehell]

10. Here is the link to "Holla Back"..Check it out!..They've organized in 84 countries

and, in terms of research, references, etc, are even more impressive than

when I last checked!

http://www.ihollaback.org/

[niyad]

11. thank you for posting this excellent information.

[whathehell]

12. You're very welcome, Niyad.

I'm past the age where I'm victimized by this crap, but as a young woman I was absolutely tormented, so I
totally "get it".

[hfojvt]

2. that was epic

now if some of them had teenage daughters or baby sisters ...

[ProfessorGAC]

3. That's Hilarious

This was a very clever plan.

[LanternWaste]

5. It certainly illustrates a problem so pervasive in culture

It certainly illustrates a problem so pervasive in culture that half-witted rationalize it thus...


"All this shows is that she's a stuck up woman who resents people being friendly!"

"It's called being polite."

"So I can't say anything in public to a woman? Ever?"

the above statements taken directly from DU.


(though it's interesting to note-- when each of these three statements were posted, the same question was asked, yet never responded to-- "You of course, say the same to other males on the street too, yes?"

[niyad]

8. isn't it interesting that some people cannot seem to understand the difference between

conversation and harassment? being POLITE?????????? seriously? catcalling is POLITE?????? wow, talk about clueless.

[GreatGazoo]

6. This was a staged PSA done by Everlast (the boxing gloves company)

Notice how none of the men say anything about seeing their "mother" walking the streets in a wig, etc ?

Another (translated) mention of the "Silbale a tu madre" clip dated 7 December 2014 explained the content was entirely staged with actors. According to that site, the scenarios depicted in the video were "recreated" ones based upon interviews with men who had expressed discomfort after inadvertently catcalling women to whom they were related:
Under the slogan Silbale your mother, the sports brand Everlast and the organization Stop Street Harassment — the first Latin American Observatory against acoso — recorded a mockumentary in which pretended to have identified bullies then contact their mothers, you change their look and make it happen where their children were.

This performance by actors is based on interviews with real subjects who once harassed by mistake to a female relative and expressed "deep shame."

http://www.snopes.com/photos/advertisements/catcalling.asp#PiXUx7zxZfi5qHDs.99

An effective PSA but it is staged.

[niyad]

7. thank you for that information.