Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Women's Studies International Forum journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wsif Blurred lines: The relationship between catcalls and compliments Kristen di Gennaro ⁎ , Chelsea Ritschel English Department, Pace University, One Pace Plaza, New York, NY 10038, USA ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Compliments Catcalls Street harassment ABSTRACT The current study was motivated by video and subsequent conversations in the media about catcalling. While the video aimed to reveal the harassing nature of catcalling, many viewers responded by claiming that catcalls are simply compliments. In an effort to determine the relationship between catcalls and compliments, this study reports on the results of a survey designed to gather recipients' views with regard to catcalls and compliments. Examining previous theoretical and empirical work from different strands of research revealed some overlap between the two speech acts, and the survey results revealed ambiguity similar to that reported in the media, but key differences also surfaced. Results suggest that catcalls are aberrant compliments at best, and insidious re- minders of women's inequality at worst. The study also calls attention to the need to define and study catcalls systematically in order for research to advance and support activists' efforts to stop street harassment. 1. Introduction In Fall 2014, a video aired showing actor Shoshana Roberts walking through New York City dressed in a simple black T-shirt and pants. Filmed using a hidden camera by a friend of Roberts and supporter of the Hollaback organization, the video was intended to document and draw attention to street harassment. A report about the video stated that over the course of 10 h, Roberts received 108 unsolicited remarks from strangers as she walked by (‘Disturbing video’, 2014). In one case, after greeting Roberts, one man continued walking alongside her for almost 5 minutes. Following the release of the video, several news organizations covered its viral dissemination. Media reactions were mixed. For ex- ample, in an interview with CNN's Fredricka Whitfield (‘This guy de- fended catcalling’, 2014), comedian Amanda Seales noted that the video revealed both how men objectify women and how women are expected to respond with a smile (as one of the men in the video re- peatedly told Roberts to do). During the same interview, author Steve Santagati, on the other hand, interpreted the comments as compli- ments, and questioned the video's authenticity since “there's nothing more than a woman loves to hear is that how pretty she is.” Santagati's main concern seemed to be the (mis)interpretation that all compliments from strangers constitute a form of abuse. Santagati is not alone in holding this view of catcalls as compliments. According to a report in The Economist (Criminalising the catcallers: A crackdown on public dis- plays of machismo’, 2015), the mayor of Buenos Aires, Maricio Macri, stated “secretly, all women like it when you catcall them.” The CNN interview revealed opposing, perhaps gender-based per- spectives. Another news report also showed opposing views; however, this time the contrasting views were from two women hosts, Norah O'Donnell and Gayle King, co-hosts of CBS This Morning. For O'Donnell, the behavior portrayed in the video is common and disturbing, but co- host King disagreed, believing that the comments Roberts received telling her that she looked good or to smile were innocuous or even complimentary. King added that, rather than get upset, she herself prefers to “twirl and say thank you.” Both O'Donnell and King agreed, however, that there is a difference between complimentary comments and threatening catcalls. King closed the segment emphasizing “there is a line and you have to know where the line is. In the meantime, I just say thanks.” The Hollaback video and subsequent media coverage raised a number of questions. 1 For example, why do some people consider the same behavior complimentary and others see it as harassment? Can the same speech act be perceived as both a compliment and a threat si- multaneously? What is it about catcalls that make them similar to compliments? What makes them a type of harassment? Why is the distinction between these two speech acts not obvious sometimes or for some people? Paraphrasing Gayle King, is there a line between a compliment and a catcall and how can people identify it? Motivated by these observations, the current study set out to address the following research questions: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2019.102239 Received 3 September 2018; Received in revised form 29 May 2019; Accepted 4 June 2019 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: kdigennaro@pace.edu (K. di Gennaro). 1 It should be noted that the Hollaback video was criticized for depicting men of color as the primary offenders of street harassment. Women's Studies International Forum 75 (2019) 102239 0277-5395/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T