John D wrote: ↑Sat Nov 25, 2017 3:51 pm
Cat-calling is not so much of a white thing in my opinion. I mean, there must be some white guys who do it, But not very many in my experience. In the Detroit area it seems like a 100% black thing.
Haha... my oldest daughter got cat-called by a black guy who said "Girl.... does yo mama know you're wearing a shirt like that?" And my kid yelled back... "My mama bought me this shirt!" My kid has big boobs... haha. She thought it was funny and was ready to explain that she had a boyfriend if it proceeded any further. The black guy yelled "ooooh weeee!" or something similar and it went no further.
It is definitely a black thing where I live.
Back in the early to mid 90s, I worked for a company which sent out fitting crews. One time I went out with them and the crew leader who was fresh out of the Royal Engineers would "Oi,oi" passing girls. This wasn't considered a sin but I did tell him that in some settings he would be working in it could make our company look unprofessional. As he was promoted through the company he actually became something of a stickler about how our staff behaved around the general public.
Around the same time I remember another guy I used to know who would do it. He didn't do it on the job because he never had a job, he was a certified "wigger" and did hardly anything unless it was copied from black culture.
In more recent years, although I have never worked for any company which can be considered politically correct, we have been very aware that male staff can be intimidating to female customers -- and that in the summer semi-naked female customers can be very distracting to staff.
In fact, we often used to sit in our office which had a two way mirror and watch women fix their make-up and adjust their cleavage in preparation. This might be partly because we hired several fit, attractive young men, it may just be because they wanted to get a better deal. I can tell you that it led to many very interesting discussions between the boys which I consider myself very lucky to be able to sit in on. I really wish all women could have heard them.
My first observation is that men are not nearly as naive as we seem to think they are. Secondly, if you try and 'play the game' with them they will play back which means you are in competition. They can't help but give better treatment to women, but you will get more cooperation if you are just acting normal than if you flutter your eyelids and flash your cleavage. If they are dealing with this all day, it gets real old for them and they feel you are trying to take advantage.
Another observation is that although one or two of the guys liked athletic or skinny girls, the memes tend to be true, men do prefer curves. Single men who have to do their own laundry hate it when women go to bed wearing makeup, and fake tan is universally despised. Girls who dress like they are available are not seen as 'keepers' because they are likely available to anyone, even if they are in a relationship.
In fact, thinking about it, probably the most surprising thing is that the stereotypes are true and everything my grandmother told me is sage advice. Men, even the young players tend to be on the lookout for a 'nice girl', somebody level headed and homely... but that doesn't mean they ignore the 'easy meat'.
Possibly the most important lesson was that men see the same things we see, and they say the same things we say, such as, "Do you think she even owns a mirror?" and "I can't walk in high heels either".
Oh, and they don't think it's cute if you pop down to the shops in your slippers or your onesie.
Back to the topic of cat calling. It think it's a game essentially the same as trolling. Even though I was telling my staff not to stare, not to leer, not to crowd the girls, they still flirted but the game is to get a reaction. The aim is to get a smile, accept a compliment or to have them flirt back.
I have heard my boys say thinks like, "You are looking nice today, are you off to somewhere special?" or even say to the older women, "have you had your hair done since I last saw you?". I had another guy who took a more shotgun approach of saying, "Here she is, my favorite customer. I can't resist blonds/brunettes/RedHeads" to all the regulars. Obviously this is a more sophisticated game than just cat calling or whistling but I suspect the effect is much the same for the person doing it.