Now THIS Is How You Respond To Street Harassment

All too often women are catcalled on their walk to work, to dinner and even to school. Vlogger and peer sex educator, Laci Green provides a few suggestions for how women can respond to street harassment in her video "Creeps On The Street." As most of us already know, street harassers don't care how you're dressed or if it's 7a.m. of if you haven't had your morning coffee yet. And as Green points out in the video street harassment is ubiquitous -- every woman she knows has experienced some form of it.

Throughout the video Green discusses the effects of street harassment and just how frustrating these violations of one's personal space can be. After her first experience of street harassment at 13 years old, Green quickly realized that catcalling is definitely not a compliment -- especially because street harassment always involves a degree of misogyny and/or homophobia.

Green recounts a few of her personal experiences of street harassment, and recalls one in which she finally understood why some men do this: "That moment was pivotal for me because I realized I'm not a person to this guy. I'm not a human being who is giving a clear 'Back Off' signal. No, I was a cute thing, an object for him to look at, poke and prod at it for his own pleasure."

Green suggests a few lighthearted ways to deal with unwanted attentions, including giving the harasser the stink eye, using "faux flattery" such as "YOU think I'M sexy??" or calling the person a creep (because "creeps hate being called creeps"). While all of her advice is amazing, Green's best tip is to never jeopardize your safety and always respond in a way you're most comfortable with.

Regardless of how you choose to respond to incidents of street harassment, we're thankful that Green is getting us to talk about it.

[H/T Upworthy]