I am tole-ranting about… street harassment.

‘Give us a smile love, it might never happen.’

It just did, buddy.

It is a sad fact that wolf whistles, catcalls, ugly things yelled from cars or spoken softly into our ears are just a few of those unavoidable annoyances in life, like tube strikes or Harry Hill

The fact that 80 to 100 percent of women worldwide face at least occasional unwanted, harassing attention in public places from men they do not know, just because they're female, means that these occasions are certainly not treated as rare or special. In fact, from a young age, girls learn to simply think of public spaces as male territory. We learn to limit the places we go, we try not to be in public alone at night, and when we are alone we try not to let down our guard, even for a second.

A catcall aimed at a woman walking home at night may not seem all that threatening, but it has the incredible power to instantly reshape the entire scene. She becomes a vulnerable subject, the man menacing, and her destination becomes her only refuge from the gendered public space. No matter how accomplished, clever or witty a woman is a man can, with virtually no consequences, reduce her to her body parts through whistles, comments and groping, or exert power by demanding her attention

The issue of public harassment of women in Bangladesh, known as ‘eve teasing’, has become so bad that it has actually led women and girls committing suicide. 14 girls in the past four months have taken their own lives in Bangladesh as a direct result of the sexual harassment they experience in the public sphere, according to a report released by human rights organisation Ain-O-Shalish Kendra. The education ministry has recently voted to have an ‘Eve Teasing Protection Day’ to raise awareness of the social problem.

Of course, harassment on the street does not just happen to women. But while harassment motivated by racism, homophobia, transphobia, or classism is recognised as socially unacceptable behaviour, men’s harassment of women motivated by gender and sexism is often portrayed as complimentary or even women's fault, based on their choice of clothes.

Well firstly, women know the difference between harassment and a compliment, mainly because we get a lot of the former and very few of the latter. Secondly, women can be, and are, harassed in every costume and form of dress imaginable. The attitude that seems to prevail is that women’s bodies are still considered public property – regardless of how they are adorned.

We need to realise that one of the most important messages for girls and women is that the harassment they experience is not their fault. What they wore, where they went, or what time of day or night they were in public is irrelevant – men who harass are the ones who are truly at fault. They are the ones acting inappropriately, and they are the ones with the problem.

The simple fact is that women should have the right to walk down the street or wait for a bus without being the target of unwanted attention. The anti-street harassment website Hollaback aims to claim back the public spaces where women feel threatened. Hollaback offers people the chance to upload pictures of their harassers along with a description of what happened, with the goal to shed light on experiences which make women feel ashamed, intimidated, frustrated or depressed, and to call their perpetrators to account. Hollaback gives women a forum in which to speak out to other women as well as to the media, police and public officials.

The UK Anti Street Harassment Campaign (ASH Campaign) also has a forum in which women
can discuss what constitutes harassment. The shared nature of these websites act to affirm women’s right to be in these public spaces in the first place. Reclaim the Night, which takes place in London on 27 November, is also a way to confront the issue that 95% of women don’t feel safe on London streets at night.

Empowering girls and women to consider assertive responses they can use against harassers and providing the tools to report this harassment is important, but ultimately street harassment will not end until men stop harassing women. Therefore, it is imperative that we focus educational efforts on boys and men. ‘The Man in the Street: Why He Harasses’ reports that only 15 percent of men said they intentionally wanted to humiliate and anger women when they harassed. Most said they harassed out of boredom and male camaraderie. Groups like Men Can Stop Rape and The Good Men Project specifically focus on redefining masculinity; society needs to teach men that making women uncomfortable is not a casual pastime.

Men are generally smart, or so I’m told. I’m sure you lot realise that the conversion ratio of catcalls to conquests has to be extremely poor. You’re not going to turn us into putty in your hands by heckling us about the proportions of our bodies. Never forget that we are your mothers and your daughters and your sisters and your lovers, and we are deserving of respect. If The Astronomical Kid can realise it at 14, you should be able to see it too.