I’ve Always Liked Being Catcalled

I’ve only now noticed a disturbing cultural bias with it.

Photo by Bucography on Unsplash

Before you head to the comments and tell me there’s something wrong with me for liking it when I’m objectified and harassed: I already know. I wouldn’t be writing this if there wasn’t. Hell, I probably wouldn’t be a writer if there wasn’t something wrong with me, period.

But hear me out first.

Born and raised in a small town in Finland, on the northern edge of Europe and the world, I could never get enough attention from boys. It was in part because of a combination of my insecurities and my completely common physical appearance. I was a little round in my preteen years and skinny as a teen, but nothing that would stand out. My awkward phase with bad hair and questionable clothing was definitely about a decade long. I would have loved to be sexually objectified by somebody. Anybody.

But not getting much attention from the male of the species was also due to the fact that Finnish men don’t really give women, in general, any attention.

Men in my country hardly even speak to each other. The only way two straight cis Finnish people can start a relationship is by both of them getting so drunk that the woman ends up falling in the man’s arms. If both of them are still interested when they wake up…