Joanna Lumley has earned the ire of the social media warriors for commenting on the debate on everyday sexism. Ms Lumley claimed, wolf whistling is in no way “sexist” and should instead be perceived as a “compliment”.
She went on to say there’s nothing wrong with wolf whistling and people are too easily offended in this day and age. I agree with her, we are too easily offended. Rather than teaching people how to deal with situations they find difficult we've taught them “how to cry foul.”
I have a friend who is highly insulted by a man wolf-whistling at her. She isn't backward in making her feelings felt either. Her responses can be withering. But then, she won’t let a man open a door for her and allow her to walk through first. She even refuses to hop into a car if a man opens the door. Conversely some other friends think a wolf whistle is a right giggle and they take it as a compliment. Having been on the receiving end of my share of wolf whistles (apart from feeling a bit self conscious at times, dependent on time and place) I’ve accepted them in the spirit in which they were intended. Good-hearted fun.
The response that both worried and saddened me the most was this. "What Joanna Lumley fails to realise is that in 2016 it isn't actually a wolf whistle it's lewd comments & threats of rape & violence.” Who on earth teaches women to think like that? What kind of world are we creating where something as benign as a wolf whistle is perceived as a threat of rape & violence. How did we come to this in 2016?
Thousands upon thousands of women suffer at the hands of violent men. Men who beat them black and blue. Many lose their life as a result. Thousands are raped in the most brutal fashion. To equate a wolf whistle with that level of violence is offensive in the extreme.
I think people should be angry over the things that are truly worthy. So, let's save our anger, offence and outrage over rape and violence. Let's stop devaluing these crimes in equating then with a wolf whistle. If women find a wolf whistle threatening, then perhaps they need to do a bit of self-evaluation about perspective. At the very least, learn the art of a withering rebuttal.
