Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Submitted by:
Velasquez, Neve-Nineveeh
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Theoretical Framework
In analyzing what catcall really means, the researchers will use a two different dualism
This framework by Gardner (1995) aims to discuss the issue of being Sexually Harassed from
Romanticized Traditionalist
This is the belief that it is natural for men to 'compliment' a woman because they are built
that way. The framework suggests that women almost expect men to give her compliments when
she's dressed as somewhat 'inviting'. The typical romanticized traditional woman perceives
catcalling, whistling and leering as compliment. On the other hand, a man, from a traditional
point of view, would think that they are obliged to make a woman feel appreciated and beautiful
Politicized Feminist
On the contrary, a politicized feminist strongly fights for what she believes is right and
just. According to Gardner (1995), a politicized feminist woman can come to an agreement that
society looks a certain way, but will never accept that it is the only way society has to be.
Enjoyable or Frightening?
To enjoy a catcall or to be frightened by it is the third response (beside active and passive
actions) that were explored by Fairchild and Rudman (2008). Since catcalling is an experience
that is so sudden, our reactions are automatic. Women who are grounded in a strong
romanticized traditional concept would enjoy being catcalled since it makes her feel appreciated
thus boosting her self-confidence. On the other hand, if you are more of a politicized feminist,
Catcalling is a widespread issue among men and women worldwide and this paper aims
to examine the causes and effects as well as its nature. It is a common knowledge for every
individual that when it comes to sexual harassment such as catcalling, women are more prone
than men, which the researchers seek to clear and determine. Furthermore, this study aims to
know the perspectives of men and women in harassment and how do different gender deals with
it. It is unconceivably true that men also experience this kind of harassment especially in the
Filipino culture for they are usually the suspects for this. With a just and fair prospect, the
researchers seek to bestow an equal judgment. Specifically, this study is designed to determine
1. Everyone, both male and female, have experienced catcalling at least once in
their lifetime.
2. Catcalling requires no proper place to execute; it may be on the streets or
This study mainly focuses on both men and women who have been catcalled around
Area-C of Dasmarinas City, Cavite. Researchers’ goals are to know “how do men and women
perceive their catcalling experience?”. Moreover, to fully understand the situational and
contextual factors that contribute to catcalling. Lastly, to know the effects of catcalling on both
men and women. The study will concentrate in Area-C of Dasmarinas City, Cavite and will
cater the objectives of the study mainly on men and women with no certain age group that
experienced catcalling.
The study will be significant to the students for they would be informed about the causes
and effects of being catcalled. It will also benefit the women because this study will contribute to
their knowledge about how catcalling may cause them. Men will also benefit from this, since
there are too many researches about catcalling that only focuses on women, this study will
enlighten people on how male population can also be victims of this harassment. To non-profit
organization focusing on this issue, this will serve as another source of information for them to
continue their advocacy. To the government, for them to have an idea on how this issue is a
serious matter and may cause psychological harm to the victims, programs and acts should be
establish so that the issue will be addressed. For the future researchers interested in conducting a
harassment as unwanted comments, gestures, and actions forced on a stranger in a public place
without their consent and is directed at them because of their actual or perceived sex, gender,
discrimination. It involves any unwanted physical or verbal behaviour that offends or humiliates
an individual.
advance, request or demand for a sexual favor, or other verbal or physical behavior of a sexual
They receive numerous verbal attacks that most of the time causes them to feel uncomfortable
Sexual harassment has been described in variety of forms such as catcalling. According to
Brainchild and Madman (2008), catcalling is practiced by men and younger women which
mostly happens in bigger cities. This practice has not been given much attention since it is
difficult to rebuke harassers. It can be experienced in many forms such as people whistling and
commenting on the physical characteristics of the person. They also added that sexual
harassment such as catcalling is not just experienced by women, men also face this kind of issue.
Flores N.M (2014) stated that, catcalling often happens in public places such as
streets,sidewalks, parks and it can happen in different modes of transportation. Weiss (2008)
added that, the violators regardless of sex, safety, well-being and dignity of the victims have no
consideration in doing this kind of harassment. Macmillan ET AL (2000) argued that one of its
effects includes limiting the person’s liberty of movement. Catcalling induces fear on the victims
and make them feel that they should be on edge when they are out and about. Nielsen (2014) said
instrument to intimidate people. Previous study "National Stop Street Harassment Report, 2014"
have shown that Street harassment is one of the primary issues in United States. The survey has
shown that 65% of the women are being harassed on the streets which often starts at the early
age of 17. As for the women in India "The Guardian" said that Sexual harassment or street
harassment such as catcalling is common in their experience which complements 15 recent
studies conducted by the NGO Action Acid 79% of women have been a victim of a harassment
or also known as public violence (2016). Research also uttered that media often describe a
narrow standard of women's beauty in physical aspect (APA, 2007b). Exposure to sexually
objectifying media has been related to greater importance of beauty and appearance in defining
an individual’s own self-worth as well as in defining the value of females in general among
African American adolescent girls (Gordon, 2008). Several films and short videos arose
regarding street harassment. 10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman, a Youtube video with 43
million hits as of October 2016, depicted the harassment a woman goes through on the streets of
New York City. She reportedly received 108 catcalls from different men (Bliss, 2014).
Linday (2017) stated that women who are experiencing catcalling or objectifying is like
treating them like an object not a human. Sexual objectification or catcalling is connected to
negative attitudes and outcomes, including rape proclivity, and reduced moral concerns which
lead to aggression.
stranger in a public place without their consent and is directed at them because of their actual or
perceived sex, gender, gender expression, or sexual orientation. It is evident in the society that
everybody is a target for sexual harassment. This form of harassment requires no proper venue to
execute. The streets, most especially in the Philippines, bear witness to different scenes of
catcalling. This abuse is not only limited to the streets but also in and around public
transportation, schools and workplaces, public washrooms, and other public spaces. It comes in
different forms like unwanted whistling, leering, sexist, homophobic or transphobic slurs,
persistent requests for someone’s name, number or destination after they’ve said no, sexual
names, comments and demands, following, flashing, public masturbation, groping, sexual
United Nations conducted a survey in the Philippines and the result was 60% of the
respondents have experienced being catcalled. Another survey was commissioned by Stop
Harassment a non-profit organization in United states, it was found out that 25% of men and
According to ABS CBN News (2014), in the list of capitals that have the most dangerous
public transport systems for women, the city of Manila ranked 10th in the survey of Thomson
Reuters Foundation. The pollster YouGov conducted the poll online 10 in 15 of the world’s
largest capitals and the most populous city in the United States, the New York. In the
Philippines, physical forms of sexual harassment occur mostly in and around public transport
wherein 58% of the incidents happen on the streets, major roads, and eskinitas. Such events
mostly occur in schools, public washrooms and other public spaces according to the survey
In a city here in the Philippines, namely Quezon City, the Social Weather Stations (SWS)
reported that 3 in 5 women were sexually harassed at least once in their lifetime. In a study, they
discovered that men who were younger and had more education were likelier to harass women
than older men with less education. But not only women experience these harassments, men, too,
are experiencing these. On a study with 4,830 men and 4,937 women surveyed, it showed that 31
sexual harassment in schools and workplaces, but our policies have yet to catch up to a kind of
problem that encroaches every corner of the country, and even, the world. Though perpetrators
have this victim-blaming mentality, catcalling has nothing to do with how one looks or dresses.
Individuals who are fully covered have been harassed. It’s sad that once a person becomes a
victim in these situations, she/he is suddenly made to think about her/his looks or choice of
clothes, and as an effect chooses to fully cover up their body as preventive measure against the
harasser who thinks that a show of skin is an open invite. It’s even saddening to think that these
perpetrators are aware that what they’re doing or have done is wrong, and is an act of
harassment.
According to a report from a survey, 88% of the respondents who are women whose age
ranges from 18 to 24, experienced sexual harassment at least once. 34% of these women
experienced flashing, public masturbation and groping, which are considered as the worst forms
of sexual harassment.
According to a survey conducted, 1 in 2 women confessed that after being harassed they
"did nothing". Most victims think that they would be in greater danger if they take any action and
nothing would happen anyway if they did something. Some of them also said that what happened
was just minor or negligible. Moreover, the victims are usually stunned and overcome by fear
A study shows that victim blaming is also one of the problems experienced by women
after being harassed. Sadly, according to Social Weather Stations (SWS), more women than men
catcalls, whistles, stalking, groping, assault and offensive verbal comments (Thirsk, 2012). Little
did we know that these actions are already considered as harassment and should not be labelled
as something natural. In line with this, according to Osmond & Woodcock (2015), the most
ignored form of sexual harassment is street harassment. A survey commissioned by the United
Nations was done in the Philippines last 2016 and it was found that 60% of Filipino women had
According to Valencia & Bullecer's (2017) study, anyone can be an abuser and anyone
can be abused on the streets. Harassment chooses no gender. In their study, 5 out of 5 male
participants reported that similar reports of women who were harassed were also done to them.
These experiences changed them socially and emotionally. They became more aware of their
surroundings and they also said that exposing their bodies publicly is harder now. Furthermore,
Research Design
This study used a qualitative design. Qualitative studies involve systematic subjective
approach that is used to obtain life experiences and give meaning to the information that was
gathered. Specifically, this research is an ethnographic study. Ethnographic study relates the
social interactions, behaviors, and views that take place in a group and communities. The main
objective of ethnographic research is to be able to identify the insight about the people’s view
and thoughts and also the nature of the issue being discussed.
The research study seeks to answer the questions that will guide the researchers
throughout the study and aims to understand more about the variables of the research. This
research design is applicable to the study because of the selection of a small group to be
The population of the study consists of both men and women of the community of Area C
of Dasmariñas. During the time of this research, both male and female were included, and both
The technique used in this research is Purposive sampling. Purposive sampling targets a
particular group of people. It is the process of taking a subset of subjects that is a representative
of a population.This technique uses different stages in getting the respondents however; selection
of the respondents is still done randomly. Purposive sampling is also known as judgmental,
selective or subjective sampling, this type of sampling can be very useful when there is a limit in
the primary data source that can contribute to the study. It will be use so that the researchers
In this study, a semi-structured interview will be used crafted to answer the questions that
the researchers seek to answer. Having this type of interview, there is a flexibility to add
questions based on the interviewees responses. The present study seeks to determine the effects
brought by catcalling on both men and women, to identify what are the situational and contextual
factors that contribute to catcalling, and to be able to know how men and women perceive their
catcalling experience. Through the interviews, the researchers will have the chance to explore
their personal experiences regarding catcalling and be able to ask them how would they define
catcalling. Prior to the interview, all the participants will be given an informed consent for them
to have knowledge what the research is about and for the researchers to ask if the participant is
Analysis of data
the accuracy of responses. All details about the participants will be kept confidentially and they
will remain anonymous to protect their identities. As for the data, a thematic analysis which is
one of the widely-used qualitative data analysis method will be used to understand participants’
experiences as well as to describe the data in rich detail. Thematic analysis is defined as “a
method for identifying, analyzing, and reporting patterns (themes) within data” (Braun & Clarke,
2006, p. 79). With this, the researchers believe that they will gain information about the different
point of views about catcalling and successfully answer the questions they developed.
References:
Flores, N. M. (May 2014) “Street Harassment: Old Issue, Ongoing Struggle, New Movement.”
Manalo J.G. ,Mercado I. U., Perez A. , Rivera M.C.C , Salangsang S. 2016 "Street harassment as
Rodriguez, Fritzie (2016), The Streets That Haunt Filipino Women. Retrieved from:
https://www.rappler.com/move-ph/124993-sexual-harassment-women-streets
Valencia, Trisia Jeun G. & Bullecer, Ma. Fatima V. (2017). The Experiences of Young
Heterosexual Men as Victims of Street Harassment. The Bedan Journal of Psychology 2017.
Bartolome J. (2016). The numbers are alarming: Sexual harassment vs women in PHL. Retrieved
from, http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/lifestyle/healthandwellness/558251/the-numbers-are-
alarming-sexual-harassment-vs-women-in-phl/story/
Brainchild, K., & Madman, L. A. (2008). Everyday stranger harassment and women
Macmillan, R., Frobisher, A., & Welsh, S. (2000). Experiencing the streets: Harassment and
Dawn M. Szymanski, Lauren B. Mauffitt and Erika R. Carr "Sexual Objectification of Women:
http://www.stopstreetharassment.org/about/what-is-street-harassment/
Buck, Stephanie (2014), What Do Men Think Of Catcalling? A Men's Rights Activist and A
debate/#vFIzznK6Kgqu
Herman, Lily (2017), A New Study Attempts to Explain Why Some Men Harass Women.
Experiences and the Implications of Men’s Catcalling Behaviors, Theses and Dissertations,
http://www.stopstreetharassment.org/about/what-is-street-harassment/
Largest-Ever Study On Catcalls Shows Street Harassment Starts For Women At Puberty. (2015).
Emily Smith. (2012). Hey baby! Women speak out against street harassment. Retrieved from,
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/06/living/street-harassment/index.html
Kathryn Lindsay, (January 2017) “Here’s exactly why catcalling can be so dangerous”.
research