Buzzfeed Explains What Men Are Really Saying When Catcalling Women

Get ready for the latest installment of a brilliant Buzzfeed video. We’ve already seen how the social news organization shed light on various gender issues in film and pop culture. We love how they are challenging the status quo and allowing the public to think for themselves about the portrayal of men and women along traditional gender lines.

First they reversed the roles of men and women in iconic romantic movie scenes, showing that perhaps the characters written for women are a little ridiculous and stereotyped. Then they reversed the gender roles in a few outlandishly sexualized TV commercials pointing out even further how ridiculous it is the way the advertising industry chooses to stereotype women. And they also showed us what it would be like if gender stereotyping from our childhood was present in our adult years. This video in particular is quite funny, but also very thought-provoking as it shows what we teach children while they are young can have a profound effect on them later in life.

This time they are taking things one step further and examining the “art” of catcalling, or as most people refer to it, sexism, in a video called ‘What men are really saying when catcalling women’. There isn’t a woman in this world who hasn’t walked down a street and had a guy say or do something inappropriate to her. And why do men think it’s ok to do this, despite many efforts for women to stand up for themselves and show them how stupid it is?

Well comedian and talk show host Stephen Colbert put it best recently when he answered a fan’s question about sexism.

“For this sort of thing to stop, boys have to be educated. Does our society educate boys to be misogynistic? It probably doesn’t value girls and women as much as it should, and boys probably see that as a signal that they can get away with things like devaluing women. What they think of as playfully or comically threatening, they do need to be told it’s wrong.”

So with that in mind, let’s check out the video below. We see typical scenarios of women walking down the street and a man or groups of men acting in a lewd manner. But instead of saying the usual “Hey sexy!” or other inappropriate remarks, they say what they actually mean. The above picture might give you a clue.

“Society makes me feel like I have to objectify you to make me feel manly,” says one guy while yelling out his car window at a passing woman.

“Woo! Girl! You know I only act like this when people ain’t around,” says another while walking past a woman.

Sure it is cringe-worthy at times, probably because we can relate. So next time any of these or other sexist scenarios happen to you and you don’t feel the courage to speak up or retaliate, here’s some good insight to make you realize what they are actually thinking.