7 May 2015
Wolf Whistles
Lynda Goetz
When I was teaching English in Seville more years ago than I now care to calculate, I was around the same age as Poppy Smart is now. My walk each day from my flat to the ‘Instituto Britannico’ ,where I taught, took me through the streets of that beautiful Andalucian city. Much of the time there were building sites to be passed and ‘piropos’ were as much a part of the walks as the architecture and the orange trees which lined many of the streets. Piropo is translated as ‘a word or expression of admiration or flattery’ and is not exclusively directed by males at females, although this is still, I imagine, its most common usage. The comments were frequently of a sexual nature and could sometimes be embarrassing, but mostly they were given and received light-heartedly and the rules of the game were to walk by without catching the eye of the callers. All the girls who were teaching got very used to this ritual, which was, or at least seemed to be much more verbal than the building site whistles we had got used to at home. However, one girl who had lived in the city longer than most of us admitted one day that she had never been on the receiving end of this behaviour. She was actually upset by this fact.
These days, of course, I am well beyond getting wolf whistles. Like Alison Pearson, who commented on this in the Daily Telegraph, it is now my daughters who are the recipients of such things. Should they feel affronted or in fact treat it as we did – a light-hearted compliment on one’s youth, physical attractiveness or smiling enjoyment of the day and the surroundings? Is it my imagination or are today’s feminists more lacking in a sense of humour and sense of perspective than their predecessors? In the days of the Suffragettes there were serious things to agitate about and serious and dangerous ways of attracting attention to their arguments. Likewise, the feminists of the 60s and 70s still had a lot of injustices to remedy. We have come a very long way from the Equal Pay Act of 1970, the Sexual Discrimination Act of 1975 and other legislation now codified in the Equality Act 2010 and whilst I do not deny that there are still attitudes which perhaps need changing, groups like ‘End Violence Against Women’ and ‘Everyday Sexism’ seem to overstate their case to the point where one is hard-pushed not to accuse them of humourless life-denying sexism themselves. The political correctness of the modern feminist brigade does not allow for any point of view other than their own – as evidenced by the treatment of and outrage expressed against Judy Finnegan when, last October, she was unwise enough to express a view about the footballer Ched Evans which did not coincide with their own. Every time a judge or older woman expresses the not-unreasonable view that a girl who is either totally drunk or is dressed in a provocative way is not acting in a responsible manner with regard to her own safety or well-being, the politically correct trumpet about their ‘rights’ to do whatever they want without being molested and reiterate that those in the wrong are the men. Yes, of course, and rape (unlike wolf-whistling) is a serious and horrible crime, but it is perhaps as well to adopt a policy of sensible self-preservation, which may involve not going out wearing a pelmet length skirt and crop top and refusing those last few drinks, and avoiding the flagrant or thoughtless provocation which may have unwanted consequences.
Poppy Smart, as far as we know, did not go out dressed provocatively, any more than I did on my way to work all those years ago. The difference in reaction would appear to be 40 years and different characters, but for Poppy Smart to compare wolf-whistling to racial discrimination and to call the police over the matter would appear to be a very dramatic over-reaction to something that is, or at least used to be regarded as a fairly harmless two-way amusement. Remember my friend in Seville and pity the poor girls who are never subjected to it. Perhaps that might be a reason for outlawing wolf-whistling in our equality-obsessed society?
