I Got Online Abuse for Calling Out Sexual Harassment

In 2025, men and women still think we should be grateful

Photo by Mihai Surdu on Unsplash

I was catcalled in the street last year. Feeling angry and unsafe, I wrote a story about it. To date, it has done better than anything else I have written. What I didn’t expect was the controversy it caused. It attracted comments about how public sexual harassment was a compliment, that I was stopping men from being men, and about how if catcalling didn’t exist, men wouldn’t have met their wives. Other comments were just abusive, and I blocked a few people.

I Got Catcalled in the Street

A police force in Surrey made the headlines for targeting the public harassment of women. Female officers went undercover, jogging in parks to catch perpetrators. My rage reignited, and I commented on the story on social media. I realised nothing had changed since I wrote the story last year.

We’re still expected to be grateful for catcalling and other forms of sexual harassment, even if it happens when we are alone and don’t feel safe. That’s what many of the comments suggested.