Saturday, November 1, 2014
Street Harassment Law Would Restrict Intimidating Behavior
Recently, there has been a big push to acknowledge and stop street harassment and cat-calling. Some women are calling for a law that would prohibit this type of behavior. Though cat-calling has been recognized as demeaning and inappropriate, would this law violate our First Amendment right of freedom of speech?
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I consider myself a passionate feminist but a law against street harassment is unnecessary, would not work, and definitely would infringe on First Amendment rights. First of all, if made a law, it would be incredibly unlikely to be enforced because it would be difficult to catch and many people assume that street harassment is appropriate behavior and leave the problem be. I think the key to stopping this kind of behavior is simply educating people on what is and is not appropriate behavior. Similarly, there is a difference between a compliment and a cat-call. A threatening or inappropriate cat-call is indeed harassment and should be punishable by fine but a well-intentioned compliment is not something people should be up in arms about. Speaking from personal experience, not all cat-calls are meant to be aggressive. However, the way that they are presented can seem threatening. Being screamed at by anybody from across the street or from a moving car can be scary, but these comments aren't always threatening or harassing. People just need to be informed that yelling crude comments or even yelling at somebody is not the appropriate way to communicate to somebody that you find them attractive or whatever. In almost all cases, cat-calling will result in the opposite result the caller would like. Perhaps posters on public transportation and commercials on TV letting people know the difference between a compliment and a cat call would make an impact. Street harassment should be punishable by fine, and though it will not be easily enforceable, it may make a difference.
ReplyDeleteI think that the issue, in truth, lies in education and media. The amount of information and behavior that youth are introduced to is incredible, yielding to a more consumerist attitude. We are taught from a young age what they ideals of society are not having felt the emotions associated with reproduction yet. We are taught that it is okay to judge people and to need to be with another person to be happy. I say that this is not true. We don't need to focus our time and energy on procreation or "hooking up" with people. The fad is just to disgusting. In my opinion we have tarnished the idea of what it means to be in love or to love yourself, nature, and your family. The information and atmosphere of school and the media does not help these foul stereotypes that we are lead to believe.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Becky that a law against street harassment would not work because it would infringe on first amendment rights. Being completely honest I did not even know what a cat-call was until I read this article. Although I agree that cat-call's should be punishable by a fine, not all cat-call's are meant to be threatening. Some guys just don't know how to properly communicate to a woman and what they may see as a compliment can come off as harassment or rude remark. The real change needs to come in education of young males. There needs to be more emphasis on how to properly communicate to others, and what is acceptable and what is not.
ReplyDeleteMs. Nielsen's proposed law, covering “uninvited harassing speech or actions targeted toward individuals in public spaces on the basis of sex or sexual orientation when done with the intent to intimidate.” is doomed right from the start even with its language. I cannot imagine America where one could be prosecuted for any "uninvited" speech towards someone on a street. I cannot see a clear cut way of proving whether comments are harassing or on the basis of sex, and I really would expect the law to be blown out of proportion and any "uninvited" speech towards a woman would be criminal. Yeah it sucks women might be harassed on the street. But a law like this is not the way to fix anything.
ReplyDeleteWhile cat-calling is wrong and inappropriate, the entire concept of this law is ridiculous. First, the idea of regulating speech blatantly violates the First Amendment. This is yet another effort by the PC police to trample rights, giving people the legal authority to fine someone who says something they find offensive. Exerting that kind of force on other people simply because you feel like accusing them of rude behavior is the definition of tyranny. Second, this law could not possibly be enforced. Why? Well, what constitutes "uninvited, threatening, gender-based speech?" The answer is left to the interpretation of those being "harassed," making the issue entirely subjective. "Harassment" could mean literally anything the woman wants it to mean. That would shift the burden of proof from the accuser to the accused, forcing the man to explain why he's not guilty of sexual harassment, if he wants to avoid legal penalties. The people proposing or advocating for this law seriously need to consider the lack of logic associated with their position. They claim that they're concerned about freedom and equality, yet they want to ban anything that makes them unhappy.
ReplyDeleteWhile I think cat-calls are extremely annoying and disgusting, I don't think there should be a law against street harassment. This would be very hard to enforce and goes against the first amendment. As Dan said this whole issue can only resolved by educating young men. Personally as long as I am not physically harassed or fear for my life I can cope. In the end there is not much that can be done without taking away rights.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Matt and Taryna. Being a female, cat-calls are inappropriate and sometimes even violating. It is degrading to women as well. However, I don't think that there should be a law against strew harassment. First off, it will never be able to be enforced because it happens so often. I agree with Kellan about educating young men in the first step to stop this problem. I think that is boys are educated about how to be a gentlemen and how to treat women, these occurrences will happen less frequently. On the contrary, I don't think that there will ever be a day that there will never be anymore cat-calls towards women.
ReplyDeleteThough cat-calls and other forms of verbal harassment are clearly wrong, a law prohibiting these things is not the way to solve this problem. This law would be a violation of the first amendment, as it is clearly infringing on the right of free speech. If things such as Ku Klux Klan rallies are not illegal, then why should cat-calling be illegal? Thoughts and speech should not be restricted just because someone does not agree with the message. If this idea to restrict cat-calls were made into a law, it could set the precedent for more restrictive laws until the first amendment is eliminated completely. Though cat-calls, like racist or other demeaning remarks, can be uncomfortable and morally wrong, they are not harmful. An argument may be made for the psychological effects of these remarks, but this argument has no basis in my opinion, as if it did, all insults should be made illegal. Overall, I believe that this street harassment law would do more harm than good to our society.
ReplyDeleteI agree with many of the above comments that this law is doomed from the start. There is no way to enforce it, and, even if it were to be enforced, the claims are all subject to interpretation. The wording of this law is overly general. I agree with Dan that further education is more important than this law.
ReplyDeleteThe first amendment would definitely be violated if anY type of law was to be passed, but I can't help but wonder why people have to be so ignorant and annoying to make this an issue. While it isn't illegal to make a cat call it still isn't someting that should be done. Legislation for this issue would just be a waste of time and money.
ReplyDeleteI agree that cat-calling is inappropriate and demeaning. Additionally, I'm not quite sure why that practice exists as it generates no positive results. On the other hand, I think that this law would violate our first amendment rights and do not think it would pass through a court system. This type of law would set an undesired precedent for other laws restricting our first amendment rights.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad this issue is gaining attention. There doesn't need to be a law against cat-calling, but as many others have said, people need to be educated that it's demeaning and wrong. I don't think this should actually become a law, as Becky said, there's really no way to police it. Also, it might make some angry and defiant, and they could not only go against the cat-calling law, but be more likely to resort to harming the women they encounter in the street. Still, it's good to see people actually taking an interest in this issue.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I feel that cat-calls are extremely inappropriate and degrading towards women, I have to agree with Ethan that it would completely violate the first amendment if their was a law placed against them. It would also be hard to enforce and would hold a very blurred line on what was legal or illegal since so many things can be said in a cat-call. Although cat calls are bad, it is not nearly as bad as physical harassment so I think a law against cat-calling may be simply impossible to create/enforce.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the others in that the law shouldn't be passed. It would be nearly impossible to enforce and would violate the First Amendment in most cases. However, catcalling can be very threatening and terrifying, and I hope everyone realizes this. Imagine being a woman alone at night and getting yelled at by a group of men who could potentially harm you. Perhaps the police could take harassment complaints more seriously rather than creating a whole other law for this category. The root to this problem lies in how society views women. Educating boys on how to properly respect women (and all people) is key to solving this issue, but most street harassment occurs in cities, and inner city schools are not really the best place for learning.
ReplyDeleteI think that it would be a violation of the first ammendment. Street calling is bad and you can say some awful things but its all about the way the victim percives it. The accuser could mean harm and harrasment with what they say but at the same time they could mean well and the victim could take it the wrong way. A person then could go to jail for trying to make an attempt to complement or flirt with someone which is absurd to think you could be punished criminally for.
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