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10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman (youtube.com)

submitted by dtelad11

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[–]robblissgr 55 points56 points  (30 children)

Forgive me for copying and pasting, getting a lot of similar comments about this:

We got a fair amount of white guys, but for whatever reason, a lot of what they said was in passing, or off camera. So their scenes were a lot shorter, but the numbers themselves are relatively even. Also, we didn't always capture the audio or video well- there's a siren that kills the scene, or someone walks in front of the camera, so we had to work with what we had. Cities are noisy, and full of people that walk in front of the camera, you know? By chance, this is how it looked and it didn't end up being the perfect representation of everything that happened, but we really did have a broad spectrum of people that said/did something.

[–]therealjohnfreemanLower East Side 60 points61 points  (6 children)

Yeah, I can see from the TwoX thread (which I found after this one) that you're getting this question a lot.

You should be careful to distinguish background is not just race. I would guess that every man in your video was low-income. Where are the working professionals catcalling? Where are the white collar workers?

[–]robblissgr 42 points43 points  (1 child)

We had those too, like the dude who says "NICE!" but generally those types of dudes dont stick around, they just say something in passing and walk away.

[–]friskyduo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You mean the bald guy with the jeans and grey t-shirt? I wouldn't really call that white collar.

[–]devymetalxo 27 points28 points  (0 children)

This is an excellent point. Socioeconomic status is obviously an important factor in this equation.

As a woman who lives in an area of the city full of white collar people, street harassment is no longer something I have to deal with. However, when I used to live in Bushwick, hang out in Bed-Stuy and work in Harlem, it was an everyday occurrence.

I will say the more expensive my clothes are, the less I hear any sort of comments from anyone. In my experience, if one looks upper middle-class or above, one experiences fewer cat-calls. I'd be curious to see this experiment done with a woman who wore a polo shirt, boat shoes, khakis and a sweater around her shoulders while re-tracing the same route. I bet there would be less harassment (not that it's ever justified, obviously).

[–]Nyphur 17 points18 points  (0 children)

My girlfriend can attest to working professionals stooping to this level. He even told her "thanks for the view". Disgusting.

[–]Bodhisuaha 21 points22 points  (0 children)

While I'm sure that white collar workers aren't completely immune from this syndrome, I suspect that there's a very strong correlation to income levels / educational background. In other words, I imagine the frequency of this nonsense dips tremendously when you're walking around the Plaza District.

Not sure if you were suggesting this by asking the question or not, as it seems pretty obvious.

[–]YoungRasputin -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Those guys can afford to pay women to be objectified so they don't have to do it randomly on the street.

[–]borninmanhattanTriBeCa 29 points30 points  (10 children)

Til all backgrounds consist of black and white.

[–]tyen0Upper West Side 19 points20 points  (1 child)

That the director misinterpreted the question that way tells us a lot.

[–]jones77 [score hidden]  (0 children)

Forgive me for copying and pasting, getting a lot of similar comments about this:

...

[–]usingpond 3 points4 points  (7 children)

What point are you trying to make? Is this video only legitimate if there is Uighur representation?

[–]Domer2012 10 points11 points  (5 children)

No, but their explicit claim that "these comments come from men of all backgrounds" is only legitimate if there's more than just low-income New Yorkers depicted.

[–]usingpond 5 points6 points  (4 children)

Well do you have any reason not to take him at his word? The few white dudes he had didn't work out. Saying that he has a classist agenda is a big accusation, when simply citing Occam's razor (less educated people are more disposed to being direct and earnest in their misogyny) is more than compatible.

You don't have to arrive to the conclusion that many white guys are more or less scummy based on the demographics of the video, just that they maybe didn't grow up in a culture that encouraged being as direct about it. There's many ways other than catcalling to establish a patriarchy.

Not to say there isn't intersection both ways, I'm just talking about generalized socioeconomics. But there's no denying that catcalls are way more of a thing in the hood than the Upper West Side.

[–]DarrkmanHollis 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You don't have to arrive to the conclusion that many white guys are more or less scummy based on the demographics of the video, just that they maybe didn't grow up in a culture that encouraged being as direct about it.

You're missing the point. the person already said that white dudes were doing it as much as Black and Hispanic men but after 10 hours he couldn't get good footage of them doing it just the Black and Hispanic people. If you believe that I have a bridge to sell you. You're being manipulated by the creator of the video. 10 hours of video and the creator makes the excuse that he couldn't use footage of white guys cause "something" always happened to make that footage not usable.

By chance, this is how it looked and it didn't end up being the perfect representation of everything that happened, but we really did have a broad spectrum of people that said/did something.

If, after 10 hours, you think that was by chance you're being naive or you WANT to believe that.

[–]Domer2012 -2 points-1 points  (1 child)

I do take him at his word, you just seem offended that people asked in the first place.

[–]usingpond 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No, I actually fall somewhere between "wow that is a little weird about no white dudes" and the personal experience of having unusable footage/audio. It's very close to home so I sympathize.

I don't begrudge people asking about the disparity, just harping on it. Nobody likes to throw out footage.

[–]GGINQUISITORHell's Kitchen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Without a guy catcalling her via Tuvan throat singing I don't really think this video fairly represents the general public.

[–]zephyrtrAstoria 2 points3 points  (2 children)

I'd love to see the route you guys took, or at least a list of neighborhoods (maybe I missed it?)

In what experience and stories I've accrued as a male, there seems to be some especially bad blocks that I would tell people to avoid, though I honestly don't know what would be more threatening: one guy on a deserted street or a bunch of them on a crowded block? It's awful.

[–]robblissgr 1 point2 points  (1 child)

We walked just about everywhere, midtown was our biggest spot. Really it's a numbers game, 1% of dudes do stuff like this I'd say, so first we had to walk by the first 99%.

[–]zephyrtrAstoria 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Terrible that such a small percentage can make such a large and awful impact.

[–]DarrkmanHollis 4 points5 points  (0 children)

So it was even BUT you only show non white people. What a joke.

"Everyone smokes weed but we'll only arrest Black men"

"Everyone made comments but we'll only show non white men"

Scroll down and read some of the comments because of what didn't make the cut. What that tells me is that you're more willing to stretch the truth than show what really happened.

Fuck you and what is now a bullshit video.

[–]GuyFawkes99Lower East Side 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Are you saying there's no correlation between race and a person's tendency to say something harassing to a strange woman? Or are you just saying all races were represented?

[–]robblissgr 2 points3 points  (1 child)

All races were represented, more or less. I think financial/educational inequality played the biggest role.

[–]GuyFawkes99Lower East Side 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think you're kind of sidestepping the question. Which is fine, I certainly would too.

[–]cmxhtwn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You are totally full of shit sir and are fooling no one...no maps?

[–]duglock -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Congrats on finding a new way to get gullible people to give you their money.