When walking the streets of New York City — whether it's on my way to work, a concert, or I'm just minding my own business — there is always at least one rude man who finds it necessary to tell me to smile, comment on my looks, and harass me by catcalling.
I am the subject of such objectification. And I am not alone. As many women all over the world know, this happens far too often. One woman from the Netherlands, Noa Jansma, became so fed up with it that she started taking photos of her catcallers.
She created an Instagram account on August 29, 2017, called "dearcatcallers" to call out the strangers who make gross comments to her while she's walking on the street — totaling 24 photos and almost 40 men.
"It's not a compliment," she wrote. "This Instagram has the aim to create awareness about the objectification of women in daily life."
For one month, Noa took a photo of herself and her catcallers and uploaded it to the Instagram page along with what was said to her in the caption.
Keep scrolling to see some of Noa's photos and how she plans on keeping the dialogue around catcalling going.
Noa Jansma, 20, from the Netherlands had the idea to start an Instagram account on August 29, 2017, filled with selfies showing her standing with the street harassers who catcall her.
The page already has over 95,000 followers.
Noa's first post explained why she created the page.
Her post read:
#dearcatcallers, it’s not a compliment.
This Instagram has the aim to create awareness about the objectification of women in daily life.
Since many people still don't know how often and in whatever context 'catcalling' happens, I'll be showing my catcallers within the period of one month.
By making the selfie, both the objectifier and the object are assembled in one composition. Myself, as the object, standing in front of the catcallers represents the reversed power ratio which is caused by this project.
Please join me in the fight and post your own #dearcatcallers or send me a DM
For all of September, Noa uploaded photos of every man who harassed her on the streets.
This is Noa's first post, which features two men she said had been catcalling her.
Even in just one post, reactions were mixed. Many women stood by Noa while some started harassing her online and defended catcalling.
The same day, on August 29, Noa posted this catcaller, who harassed her at night.
One commenter — a man — said: "I am a man and for the life of me cannot understand how someone could possibly fathom that catcalling would be appealing to anyone…"
Instead of just posting her photos, Noa started using the caption feature on Instagram to write out exactly what the catcallers said to her.
In this photo, she wrote: "Wohoo look! laughing and loud whistling"
Noa wrote that these strangers said: "Mmmmmm beautiful sweet girl" to her and clearly didn't care that they were being photographed after harassing her.
It may be a stereotype that construction workers are the worst offenders when it comes to catcalling and, true or not, Noa experienced it firsthand with this group of guys.
They said to her: "psssst, whoooooop, Can he have your number?"
Noa proves that it's not just men on the street who feel the need to shout at her, it's men in cars, too.
About this incident, Noa wrote: "slowly following me 2 streets shouting 'sexy!' and 'wanna come in my car?'"
Noa experienced harassment by men both young and old.
This particular older man said disgusting things to her.
She wrote: "honks at me 3 times with his scooter, approaches from behind and cuts off my way 'God bless, When I see you, all I get is wild thoughts, wild, Wild Thoughts!! Darling' honks again 3 times"
Most men probably don't understand the absolute fear women experience realizing the same man has been following them for an unusual amount of time.
Noa wrote that this man followed her for 10 minutes and said, "sexy girl Where you goin'?? Can I come with you ?"
"My name is not baby," Noa wrote as the caption of this catcaller.
While Noa only planned to document street harassers for a month, she is going to pass the account to another woman who can continue to document and keep bringing attention to catcalling.
"Thank you for all the support and messages," she wrote. "It has made it clear that catcalling is still a common occurrence that many of us are dealing with."
Please SHARE this post on Facebook if you want catcalling to stop!
