One Malaysian woman, who has become fed up with being catcalled often while walking to and from work in Kuala Lumpur, decided to stand up for herself.
Netizen, @atiquh, took to her X account to showcase how she had confronted and scolded a man and his friend (Man A and Man B) for catcalling her.
She wrote, “This day was bound to happen and I finally got a chance to catch these m***********s. This is something that happens way too often, and I’m done with people thinking it’s okay to harass women. To men, please enlighten me, why do some men do this to women?”
“I walk to work every day and every week, I can assure you that I’ll be catcalled by motorcyclists and lorry drivers. Even if I don’t get catcalled, motorcyclists would stare every time I cross the road. It’s just that this time, these people catcalled me from the side of the road so they got it from me.”
In her video, she confronted the 2 men by telling them that they shouldn’t come to Kuala Lumpur with their ‘kampung’ (village) behaviour.
Man A then insisted that he didn’t catcall her but his friend, Man B, did. After a heated back and forth, Man B admitted to and apologised for catcalling her but Man A got angry and called her stupid.
Things escalated as Man A continued to insult her looks as he didn’t like that she called his behaviour ‘kampung‘. Man B, on the other hand, tried to calm the situation down.
The video ended with Man A insisting that he didn’t catcall @atiquh, and her telling Man A that he should have then stopped Man B from catcalling her.
Enough is enough.
Prior to this confrontation, @atiquh would normally show catcallers her middle finger but this time, she felt like she had reached her limit.
“Being a woman is so damn hard because you would always have this constant fear of being watched or objectified by men. Don’t come at me saying women should stay at home. It’s almost 2025, widen your mindset and see the bigger picture,”
“And those who attack my looks, please, it’s not about looks but our dignity as women. And if you think it’s about the way I dress, no. You’re wrong. I’ve dressed like this and still got catcalled,” she added, showcasing one of her outfits which included a headscarf and a long, loose long-sleeve blouse with loose pants.
Believing that men dare to catcall women because they think women are weak, she urges both men and women to stop enabling catcalling behaviour through confrontation.
“It’s not even cool. Instead, it makes you look like you don’t have a brain. If your friends do this, please educate them. If you often get catcalled, at least put up your middle fingers and record them from afar. If we keep allowing this to happen, it will never stop,”
“The reason why I blurred their faces is because this isn’t just about these 2 men, it’s about a much larger issue that affects women everywhere. We need to address this behaviour, not just the people involved,” she explained.
You can check out her video here:
What do you think about this? Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
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