The Motivation Behind Catcalling: An Investigation of Men's Involvement in Street Harassment Behavior

https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2021.1909648

Commentary

"Catcalling is considered to be a form of street harassment, described as sexual harassment by strangers in public places.

Mostly, men use words, whistles, sounds, and gestures to get a woman's attention, essentially defining her as a sexual object.

The purpose of this study was to investigate men's motivations for catcalling and to examine the characteristics of men who catcall compared to men who do not catcall.

An online survey of attitudes toward urban, sexism, masculinity/femininity, social control, and sexual harassment was administered to male participants (N= 258) for measurement. The motivations for catcalling and the responses that catcallers hoped to elicit as targets were also investigated.

The results showed that the motivation for catcalling was flirting and expressing sexual interest in the target, with familiarity being the most desirable response from the recipient. In addition, men who engaged in catcalling showed higher levels of hostile sexism, self-identified masculinity, social dominance orientation, and tolerance for sexual harassment.