Saturday, September 18, 2010

Cat-calls in Botswana

Station Cat-Calls ( Pssst, hey baby, come here beautiful and so on )

As a woman in Gaborone, Botswana you do not need to go to a style expert to tell you how good you are looking on any given day. All you have to do is walk through the main bus and taxi rank affectionately known as the “Station” and within a few minutes if you are well dressed you will know it. A group of petrol attendants or taxi drivers with time to kill on their hands while they are waiting for customers will hiss, psst or whistle to get your attention, followed by common phrases like “wuwu”, “baby”, “come here beautiful” or “can I have your number”. It is not only taxi drivers and petrol attendants who do this. Sometimes the cat-calling is done by road maintenance workers or construction workers from high up on scaffolds with their distinctive dark blue overalls and white hard hats on.

People have differing views on the Botswana cat-calling phenomenon. Some people think it is just harmless fun for the men while they go about their jobs. The men’s days can be long and boring so they need to do something exciting to get them through the day. With so many women of all kinds, shapes and sizes passing through the Station every day, the men will never lack for entertainment. Cat-calling gives them something to look forward to on days that they do not feel too excited about coming to work. Where is the harm in that?

Some of the cat-callers would even argue that they are doing a valuable service to women. They have seen women walking around with solemn faces break into beautiful, heartwarming smiles the minute they got cat-calls. It seems to brighten up the day of most of Gaborone’s women to know that, someone approves of what they are wearing and is willing to let them know. The cat-callers believe that the women might say they don’t like it but if they were to tell the truth, they would admit that on some level it makes them feel good. The men do not just cat-call anybody, they only cat-call Gaborone’s best dressed women. It is a nod of approval from the men and which woman can honestly say she does not want to get a nod of approval?

Avid opponents of cat-calling think that it is tacky and disrespectful to women. It makes it seem like women solely exist for men to look at. It treats women like pieces of meat which men have a right to judge. What gives the men the right to be the judges of who is looking good and who is not? Did Gaborone’s women ask them to judge them? Would the men like it if women judged whether they were well dressed or not on a day to day basis? Women feel that cat-calling puts unnecessary pressure on them to conform to the standards of the cat-callers. Walking through the Station feels like walking into a beauty pageant women did not sign up for and this makes some women nervous and self-conscious. There are some women who dread passing through the Station or any place like the Station.

I have endured cat-calling (or lack-thereof on days I was not well dressed) while growing up in Gaborone. I have hated it on some days and appreciated it during others. I think the men are really well meaning and just want to voice their appreciation of women and the effort they make to look good. However, I think cat-calling is the wrong way to show appreciation for women. The men could simply walk up to a woman and say, “Hi Miss, I think you look really good today. Have a nice day” without whistling, making strange sounds or making lewd gestures or comments. This would be polite, respectful and it would serve the same purpose as cat-calling.

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