Today a more masculine-presenting acquaintance of mine expressed, publicly, their frustration at having been hit on by men when they ran to the store in an undershirt (you know, the "wifebeater" that so many of our lovely butch women like to wear). "Do I not look gay enough?" she asks.
Though certainly not ill-intentioned, this sort of sentiment echos many misogynist tendencies that so many of our butch women express. For a wonderful article on Butch Misogyny, click here.
Does my acquaintance believe that femme-presenting individuals, heterosexual women, women perceived to be heterosexual (or bisexual, or somehow attracted to men), or people perceived to be heterosexual women deserve to be catcalled and hit on whenever any man feels the need or desire to? Does she believe we are "asking" for it, by not trying harder to look gay? Probably not, but her statement and mindset can still be harmful to our community, especially when shared by many others.
Check out this article on why catcalling is not a compliment and how it ties into misogyny and rape culture. Here's a quote:
It's not flattery, actually - it's harassment. Street harassment, to use the official term. And the thing about street harassment is that it is not meant to be a compliment, but, in fact, an aggressive assertion of male dominance by dehumanizing and hypersexualizing someone.
When one gives thought to catcalling and other forms of street harassment in this sense, the fact that butch and masculine-presenting women are targets, too, is much easier to understand.
The men who are performing street harassment do not (ever) believe that their targets are going to go out on a date with them, so their sexual orientation does not matter. Butch and masculine-presenting women (heck, even andro women, queer/trans* individuals, etc) are seen as infringing on male dominance and power through their gender presentation...which is a threat. Street harassment is one of the ways that the rape culture we live in is responding to this threat.
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