Hi everyone! We're so excited about the event this coming Saturday. Here’s some more information about what to expect the day of and a few chalking tips so you’re all prepared to have a ~badass~ time.
1. Community
This event is about building community. It will be a way for us to support each other, vent about experiences we’ve had and share the ways we’ve learned to respond and cope with the behavior. There will be allies at the event who haven’t dealt with street harassment. This is a great opportunity to share with them what you’d like to see from a bystander, and what you want active ally-ship to look like.
2. Chalk
This event will be an opportunity to chalk your own catcalls. As we all know, these comments can be extremely vulgar. When I chalk, I use asterisks to bleep out the curse words. I firmly believe that children should be educated about this behavior and that the chalk is an opportunity for that. But I also don’t want to be responsible for a 4 year old asking her mom what “F - U - C - K” spells out. Whether or not parents explain the project to their kids should be at their own discretion.
As much as I want people to be outraged by the words, I don’t want that to turn into anger towards us. I want this to be a peaceful and educational gathering. Engage people. Explain the project to them if they seem interested. And if someone seems confrontational, try to ignore them.
3. Support
Catcalls of NYC is run purely on a volunteer basis. We will be selling feminist merch in hopes of making back the money that was spent on the event and saving up for more chalk and future initiatives. A portion of the profits from the Femininitees' Cats > Catcalls tee-shirts will go to a feminist organization. If you’re able to donate, it will go straight back into the project. Catcalls of NYC is growing rapidly and the more resources we have, the more we can continue to make change.
Thank you and see you Saturday ❤️
Catcalls of NYC