Is This Street Harassment Video Racist?

[Dreadnaught]

Has anyone else seen the social media fury of a thousand suns over this?



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1XGPvbWn0A

If not...I guess some links?

http://www.thefrisky.com/2014-10-31/...assment-video/

http://www.salon.com/2014/10/29/race...assment_video/

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor...nd_street.html

[Ominous Gamer]

Your frisky link threw up a chrome phishing warning. I assume from an ad cause I couldn't get it to do it again after several refreshes.

Being a white guy in old people south, I had no idea that catcalling like this existed. Everyone says hello to everyone, its like breathing. Also didn't even notice the skin colors, the woman is so tan I wouldn't have said she was white right away either.

But I asked one of friends, the one in the halloween picture, and she told me about how bad it is. That what a lot of people see as an innocent hello is only an opening for more harassment, that any response is seen as leading them on. Like responding to every street peddler thats trying to sell you some random piece of crap. She said its not so bad in Florida, but extremely so in Texas. She also pointed out that its largely not white guys, or at least not the non-slob or wigger white guys. Its very much a minority culture thing and she experienced it just as much with mexicans as with blacks. Maybe the slate article has the right of it.

Also, this:

[GGT]

Has anyone else seen the social media fury of a thousand suns over this?

Yeah, I've seen this video, more than once. Ugh. Pretty sure I saw it on CNN first, when Jenny Moos took her humorous (satirical) approach to NYC life. Then it got picked up by other cable news networks, each making its own spin.

It was called out as "racist" because the majority of hecklers were dark-skinned men. After that accusation was made, the videographer made a statement/apology, and explained it was simply editing for the most "titillating" responses. Not sure how that's any better

What's not visible to the casual viewer (because it's all frontal video) is that the woman was wearing pants that had "American Eagle" printed across her buttocks. Kinda hard to miss, but easy to exploit, huh.



PS, "street harassment" is a real thing, and it doesn't just happen in NYC. This video did a crappy job of exposing -- or explaining -- the problem.

[Hazir]

And yet the bad boys do get the girl. Street harassment may be a real thing but very often real things happen because they are actually effective.

[Loki]

The criticism of the video kind of reminds me of the people here complaining about the emails from the local police department (they send them out after each crime committed on campus) almost consistently describing the race of the criminals as being black. Apparently they're offended that reality is racist or something.

[Dreadnaught]

After thinking about this a bit and talking with two people this weekend, I think what bugs me about the "backlash" is some peoples' inability to take a point at face value. Especially when there is social commentary involved. I think making a point about how women get treated in the streets of NY shouldn't require creating a Benetton video with every color under the rainbow.

[Aimless]

Think the video should be taken together with the analysis in the Slate article.

[Hazir]

After thinking about this a bit and talking with two people this weekend, I think what bugs me about the "backlash" is some peoples' inability to take a point at face value. Especially when there is social commentary involved. I think making a point about how women get treated in the streets of NY shouldn't require creating a Benetton video with every color under the rainbow.

Interestingly enough it turns out that it's just as easy to make a film like that with a man walking around the streets of NYC getting all sorts of shit shouted behind him (including getting a girl running after him to get his telephone number)

[Dreadnaught]

Can I see this video?

[Hazir]

Man Gets Harassed Over 30 Times In 3 Hours Walkin…: http://youtu.be/InUeOWlgebM

[Dreadnaught]

That was unexpectedly thought-provoking, assuming it's not fake.

[Hazir]

That was unexpectedly thought-provoking, assuming it's not fake.

Even if it were fake, it's a fairly accurate depiction of how women think they can approach men.

[Aimless]

That's what they get for trying to use "babes" to make points instead of just showing what regular people have to endure.