Reese Barcelon
Nowadays, harassment has been rampant and came in many forms and one of the most common types is catcalling—which is an act involving whistling, shouting or giving a comment with a sexual nature to someone.
Generally, there are men who hit on women they see mostly on the side of the street or while on the road. They try to catch their attention by spitting out words such as, “Miss!”or “Ano’ng pangalan mo?” to name a few. This has been making a lot of women uncomfortable and fearful when going out all by themselves so they try to avoid such situation if it is possible.
However, there are also unavoidable circumstances where a woman cannot walk away whenever such incident happens. One of the women who had this kind of experience was Hazel Mhariz.
Last April 10th, she decided to post what happened to her while she was riding a public jeepney with three men seated in the front to raise awareness and let everyone know that catcalling is never okay. It had quickly gone viral since the issue is a sensitive one especially for the women.
Mhariz was wearing a plain shirt and pants that doesn’t show her skin; hence nobody can say that she was catcalled because of what she was wearing.
According to her, the whole time she was on the public vehicle, the three men did nothing but to stare, wink and smile, and gave uncomfortable comments such as, “Ganda mo naman, Miss.” and “Ba’t mag-isa ka lang, Miss?”
Mhariz firmly stated that catcalling or any form of harassment doesn’t depend on what a victim is wearing, but rather depends on the person doing the act.
The pictures she had taken clearly indicated how the men made her uncomfortable through their stares, including the driver, who was supposed to be keeping his eyes on the road. While, the other one even had the guts to smile at her at the same time.
Facebook users who had seen the post also became fearful and wary when commuting as it seemed like men who do such thing are getting more and more confident to do so.
“Kaya hindi matigil tong culture ng harassment and disrespect sa babae kasi may mga tao na hinahayaan lang ito. Ang culture ng harassment at disrespect sa babae ang isa sa mga root causes ng rape at sexual assault. Ito ang rason kung bakit gusto mag speak out ng mga nabibiktima ng sexual harassment sa social media ay para ipahiwatig sa tao na mali ang sexual harassment at dapat shini-shame ang mga gumagawa nito.” A certain Akhie Yano said.
However, to our dismay, there are also a few who defended the men saying that if it was a good-looking man, Mhariz might not have posted it at all, and that everyone should stop judging men based on their appearance.
Some even bashed her for stepping up.
Therefore, she decided to post a statement to clear things out and to let everyone know what her purpose was for posting the incident on her Facebook account.
“Kaya ko po pinost sa facebook yung photo is because i want to raise an awareness, also to inform everyone na ang mga manyak e walang pinipiling oras, umaga man o gabi, maliwanag man o hindi.
Minsan kahit anong pagayos mo ng pananamit, mamanyakin at mamanyakin ka parin talaga. Si Maria Clara nga na balot na balot na ang kasuotan e nagagawa paring pagnasahan ni Padre Salvi, diba. Minsan din nga kahit punuan na ung jeep, nagagawa ka paring manyakin. Maganda man ang babae o hindi, everyone deserves a respect. Tsaka sana instead of telling women to dress nicely, why dont we tell men to stop sexual harassment, cat calling etc. Ika nga, “It’s not about what I wear, it’s your lack of ability to control your libog.”
Hindi ko ginusto na mamanyak. Walang matinong babae ang gugustuhing manyakin ng kahit na sinong lalake. Gwapo man yan o mayaman. Hasty generalization na pag pogi, di na ako magrereklamo. Para nyo narin sinabi na pag gwapo may karapatan na maging manyak, kase gustong gusto pa ng babae yun.
Pasensya na po sa lahat ng kumekwestyon kung bakit walang matinong evidence na may cat calling na nangyare. Pasensya kung nakulangan kayo. Pasensya na kung walang video at kung ano ano pa na sakin pa binabato ang sisi. Hindi naman po ako gagawa ng kwento para lang makuha ang simpatya nyo. Nakakatawa lang na parang kasalanan ko pa ata kung bakit namanyak ako, kase dun sa mga ng manyak sakin okay lang sakanila. Victim blaming.
Hindi ko po pinost yung photo para sa atensyon at para magpasikat dito sa facebook. As a victim, nag voice out lang ako. Pinost ko iyon para po sa kaligtasan at kaalaman ng lahat.”
Catcalling is a form of sexual harassment which should not be tolerated or even defended. It makes a person uncomfortable and feels like their rights are violated by doing so.
Every woman who experiences the same should not be afraid to step up and protect themselves to let those kinds of man know that their wrongdoing is not at all flattering, but improper and offensive.
