UNS — Psychology Student Association (Himapsi) of the Faculty of Medical Science (FK) Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta held an online discussion Psychodiscuss on Friday (7/5/2021). Raising the theme of “You Can’t Compliment Me by Catcalling”, the discussion moves around the topic of catcalling topic as a form of sexual harassment that often occurred in the community. The online forum was held through the Zoom Cloud Meeting and was attended by more than 30 participants. Berliana Widi Scarvanovi, M.Psi., Psikolog, faculty member of Psychology Program FK UNS, participated in the event as a speaker.
Berliana explained that catcalling falls into the type of sexual harassment. Catcalling itself is diverse, starting from unwanted comments with sexual content, provocative gestures, wolf-whistling, and honking. Catcalling also often occur in the public space such as public transportation, highway, and shopping center.
Berliana also emphasized that catcalling is not a compliment as both actions have different energies. A compliment contains positive energy that leads to positive feelings for the person receiving the compliment, while catcalling creates negative energy as it pushes sexual contents into the recipient. “This causes highly negative energy, and we receive it negatively. Therefore, we do not consider it as a positive thing,” Berliana emphasized.
In her material, Berliana also highlights the anonymity factor that supports catcalling behavior in the community. The more anonymous someone, the freer they feel to perform catcalling. Other factors that secretly support this negative behavior are the absence of resistance from the victim, the Bystander-effect, norms, and deindividuation.
Catcalling might not cause severe effects on the victims. But receiving catcalling in the long term could cause psychological distress regarding one’s image and self-confidence. “They question themselves, they have to confidence, or have a negative self-image. These are the severe impacts of frequent and intensive catcalling,” she added.
Berliana added that there are preventive steps to stop a person from performing catcalling. Good parenting for children, both boys and girls, mutual respect, putting oneself in the victim’s shoes, and raising awareness that, what common is not always correct. Berliana also suggested the steps that could be taken by catcalling victims, such as standing for themselves and explain that catcalling is not a good action. However, before standing up for themselves, the victims should be aware of their condition as some situations might incite worse action from the perpetrator. Victims could also ask for help from other people or avoid traveling alone. Humas UNS
Reporter: Rangga Pangestu Adji
Editor: Dwi Hastuti