The one brilliant thing this woman is doing to every man who catcalls her

Life


The one brilliant thing this woman is doing to every man who catcalls her

By Susan Devaney

Updated 8 years ago

Selfies are more often than not associated with, well, “the self”. But one woman is using the power of the selfie for the good of all women out there by taking one with every man who catcalls her on the street.

And it doesn’t stop there. Noa Jansma, from Amsterdam, started an Instagram account, @DearCatCallers, to share said selfies with the world for one month.



And then she’ll pass the brilliant baton onto another woman to do the same, since, you know, we’ve faced sexual harassment for millennia.

Having started the Instagram account in August, Jansma’s first post explained her reasoning behind the account:

“Dear Catcallers, this is not a compliment,” she wrote.

“This Instagram has the aim to create awareness about the objectification of women in daily life. Since many people still don’t know how often and in whatever context ‘catcalling’ happens, I’ll be showing my catcallers within the period of one month.

“By making the selfie, both the objectification and the object are assembled in one composition. Myself, as the object, standing in front of the catcallers represents the reversed power ratio which is caused by this project.”

And, believe it or not, the catcalling men have all happily posed for selfies with Jansma – seemingly oblivious to the distress they’ve caused. 

One man followed her for 10 minutes before she stopped him and asked for a selfie.

Another man followed her in his van as she walked, asking her: “Do you want to come in my car?”

One man, and this comes as no surprise to any of us, said: “I know what I’d do to you, baby.”

In July last year Nottingham became the first city in the UK to expand its definition of hate crime to include misogynistic incidents, like catcalling and wolf-whistling.



Jansma’s one-month-long stint has now ended, but schooling men on why catcalling is wrong doesn’t stop there.

“It doesn’t mean that catcallers are in the past as well,” she posted this week.

“To show that it’s a global phenomenon and that this art project is not only about me, I’ll pass on the account to different girls around the world. This will be a process that will take some time, so please stay tuned.

“Thank you for all the support and messages. It has made it clear that calling is still a common occurrence that many of us our dealing with.”

You’re amazing, Jansma.

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