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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Problem With That Catcalling Video: The White Guys Got Edited Out
Hanna Rosin from Slate:
This doesnt mean that the video doesnt still effectively make its point, that a woman cant walk down the street lost in her own thoughts, that men feel totally free to demand her attention and get annoyed when she doesnt respond, that women cant be at ease in a public space in the same way men can. But the video also unintentionally makes another point, that harassers are mostly black and Latino, and hanging out on the streets in midday in clothes that suggest they are not on their lunch break. As Roxane Gay tweeted, The racial politics of the video are fucked up. Like, she didnt walk through any white neighborhoods?
The video is a collaboration between Hollaback!, an anti-street harassment organization, and the marketing agency Rob Bliss Creative. At the end they claim the woman experienced 100 plus incidents of harassment involving people of all backgrounds. Since that obviously doesnt show up in the video, Bliss addressed it in a post. He wrote, we got a fair amount of white guys, but for whatever reason, a lot of what they said was in passing, or off camera or was ruined by a siren or other noise. The final product, he writes, is not a perfect representation of everything that happened. That may be true but if you find yourself editing out all the catcalling white guys, maybe you should try another take.
This is not the first time Bliss has been called out for race blindness. In a video to promote Grand Rapids, Michigan, he was criticized for making a city thats a third minority and a quarter poor look like it was filled with people who have been reincarnated from those peppy family-style 1970s musical acts from Disney World or Knotts Berry Farm, as a local blogger wrote.
Activism is never perfectly executed. We can just conclude that they caught a small slice of catcallers and lots of other men do it too. But if the point of this video is to teach men about the day-to-day reality of women, then this video doesnt hit its target. The men who are sitting in their offices or in cafes watching this video will instead be able to comfortably assure themselves that they dont have time to sit on hydrants in the middle of the day and cant properly pronounce mami. They might do things to women that are worse than catcalling, but this is not their sin.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2014/10/29/catcalling_video_hollaback_s_look_at_street_harassment_in_nyc_edited_out.html
This is more disgusting than the catcalling itself!
AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)Mister Nightowl
(396 posts)kelliekat44
(7,759 posts)how about walking down Main Street in some rural town where men hang out.
Township75
(3,535 posts)A poor innocent white woman harasses by dark skinned people....no she was harassed by men of all races. Why edit out whites? Racism!
Demit
(11,238 posts)I think you just want to change the subject from catcalling itself, whoever does it.
phil89
(1,043 posts)the person who clearly had psychological issues, and some looked like homeless guys about to ask for money. Seemed extremely dishonest and manipulative. Could have made her point without the tricky editing.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)would that not go some way towards explaining the imbalance?
I still found it an eye-opening video. This kind of harrassment is horrible, regardless of the race of the perpetrators.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)as if it was more of a means of soliciting money by exploiting a hot/controversial topic than it was to actually do anything. The fact that there was manipulation going on (editing out white people) would underscore, for me, the disingenuousness of their motives. Too bad, because it was otherwise a pretty good idea for a documentary viral vid.
maced666
(771 posts)Okay....someone please draft some unruly whites to participate - otherwise this video is useless!
Brickbat
(19,339 posts)I was worried that men would have to listen to all the women in all the threads about this saying that this kind of catcalling happened to them. I'm so glad there's a distraction so men can write it off as "something trying to get a reaction."
seaglass
(8,173 posts)those who just don't give a shit. I suppose there are enough of them.
jamzrockz
(1,333 posts)as disturbing if not more disturbing than cat calling. The people behind the stunt should be ashamed of themselves. Thanks for point that out.