Intervention 3 - Krystal M

 

More Days, More incidents. 

For my third intervention I choose to address Cat Calling. In America, there is this acceptance and continuance of 'rape culture' where women are often blamed and targeted for experiencing the assault and abuse of others. When a women is cat called, she is often blamed for what the person says because someone will ask her what she was wearing, and why she decided to wear it. I wanted to address this issue because why does it matter what a woman wants to wear, and more importantly why should it matter why she wore it? The only people who are to blame for sexual assault, abuse, cat calling, rape and etc. are the perpetrators! 

Cat Calling is something that women of many ages experience. I myself, have yet to go one day at work without being awkwardly approached, hit on, or cat called. I thought that my work place would be different then when I would be walking in a parking lot or in the mall, but it is actually much worse! At work I wear my uniform shirt with jeans, leggings or sweat pants, but lately I've been sticking to jeans. My boss gave me a shirt almost twice my size, before my first day, because he knows that the customers are "inappropriate". Any time I wear leggings, in additional to my long and loose work shirt, I need to wear a sweater or jacket to "cover up". I am tired of having to adjust my comfort to make sure I can keep the "inappropriate" customers in check. The sign stood up for my entire 10 hour shift , and three people asked me about it. Two of the three people who asked about the sign were men, who didn't know what Cat calling was and the other was a young girl.  The sign was placed behind the register, directly in front of the section where we sell the condoms, and sex enhancement pills, so I know many of my male customers and regulars saw it!