Sexual Harassment on Wheels

When I saw them, I told Brother and Sister that this would be the title of my next post, which is this post. I was thinking that another viable title might be "Chivalry is Victim in Honk and Run." This may become a bit of a tirade, but going by what I know of my nature, I don't think that it will be too terribly mean.

The stimulus for this post was an incident that took place this afternoon when I was walking to meet Sister and Brother. I was just walking down one of the more trafficked streets in our city, minding my own business, when a car that turned onto the street from one of the local fast-food eateries honked. It was one of those weird sounds that resembles and electric version of the familiar whistled "cat call." I did my best to not respond in any fashion to this behavior, other than to silently start plotting this post. There have not been too many similar occasions, but in the few instances that such a thing has happened, it has really upset me. Perhaps irritated is the better word. I just don't like that behavior, and hope that Brother is learning that this is demeaning behavior.

I know that I have heard strict lectures on the degredation and objectification of women, and that it is this kind of thing that is both the cause of and caused by these unpleasant socio-cultural shifts in view. Each time a man or boy sees another male treating women like this, even if he doesn't feel that this behavior is appropriate, witnessing the behavior itself can be a reinforcing factor for these harmful viewpoints.

"You act too much like their mommy, and you're not," has been an oft heard cry from friends in reference to the way that I sometimes treat my siblings. But I care about them very much. To me it is as important to talk to your kids about the way they treat other people as it is to talk to them about sex, drugs, drinking, and all those other big talks. Brother is a wonderful young man (way too funny and smart, but still an okay guy), and my hope is that he will stay a nice guy.

Seriously, most chicks dig nice guys even more than nice cars (heard so on the radio)! Just don't forget to wear matching shoes when you go on dates.