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  • 1 week ago
Our Kitchen Talk panelists talk street harassment and the deeper implications behind catcalling featuring news and culture editor Christina Coleman, tastemaker Jamal Jimoh, stylist Chris Collie, and sociologist Norell Giancana.
Transcript
00:01Sexual harassment in the streets.
00:03Okay?
00:04Every woman has a story.
00:05Why do you say that?
00:06I'm not...
00:07Every woman has a story of being catcalled or harassed on the street, in the club, on
00:10the train, the grocery store, etc.
00:12But there have been recent cases where women have been attacked or killed for refusing
00:16a man's advances.
00:17Most recently here in New York, the young lady on Eastern Parkway during the Caribbean Day
00:21Parade, she was shot because she didn't want to dance with a gentleman.
00:24I use the term gentleman loosely.
00:26Why is the act of approaching a woman in public such a tricky one?
00:30Fellas?
00:31It's not.
00:32The moment that they're not interested, you back off.
00:34And it should be that simple.
00:37But we're very...
00:39It's a weird, very weird male-excused culture, like where we pardon ridiculous behavior.
00:47And we don't hold each other accountable, but also parents tend not to hold them accountable.
00:52There's no system of accountability whatsoever, for the most part.
00:55So these things become favorable.
00:57And you see things like what a woman's wearing, how a woman's acting, how you get looked at,
01:02or any number of signs that you can take as excuses for approaching a woman in a certain
01:06way.
01:07You take those as just some sort of indemnification for moving forward however you see fit.
01:12And it's not suitable as someone who's approached women and gotten turned down.
01:17But I've also approached women and had a favorable response.
01:20My brother.
01:21I know better than to say, oh, hey, how are you, beautiful?
01:24And she says no than to yell at her or proceed to chase after her or to make her feel uncomfortable
01:30once she's expressed that that advance isn't unappreciated.
01:33You mentioned accountability.
01:34If you're with one of your boys and he starts to get reckless, would you check him and be
01:38like, ooh, leave her alone?
01:39Absolutely.
01:40Absolutely.
01:41Okay, good.
01:42Chris?
01:43So my father treated my mother like a queen from the first day to the last day he was on
01:45earth.
01:46And that stuck in me.
01:48And he was very strict on me about how I spoke to women.
01:52He always called my mom, you know, his queen and his apple of his eye.
01:57So when I do approach women or when I have approached women, sometimes when I approach
02:03them in that manner, they think that I'm running game.
02:07But in actuality, because they're so not used to hearing guys just come at them in a respectful
02:15manner, which is a reflection on our society, that now sometimes even treating them respectfully
02:24sometimes is seen as game.
02:26So it's very hard to approach a woman nowadays, period.
02:31Because it's awkward.
02:33You're approaching a stranger.
02:34And women nowadays, to me, and this is a good thing, are taking more leadership roles
02:42in the workforce.
02:45There are a lot of women who are major breadwinners now in the household.
02:48So you feel like that's carrying on into the street, into this dynamic?
02:53I feel that it is, and I feel that a lot of men are intimidated.
02:56Yes.
02:57So in that intimidation, they don't know how to treat them.
03:00So they come at them aggressively to try to feel, as a sense of fulfilling their male
03:05ego.
03:06Right.
03:07And it comes out completely wrong.
03:08And then after that, it's just-
03:11It's a lashing out, then, basically.
03:12It's a lashing out.
03:13And I always check all of my male friends.
03:16And then what I do is, you know, they say, you know, you're guilty by association.
03:21So I don't hang around.
03:23My circle has gotten very small as I've gotten older, and I've kind of learned who I should
03:28and want to be around.
03:29And the energy, I'm very conscious of energy.
03:32Right.
03:33And a lot of my friends from my past were very disrespectful to women.
03:37So, no, it's good that you separated yourself from that, but not many do.
03:41But, Narelle, I want to bring you into the conversation.
03:44How do you feel that women should handle that?
03:46You're giving clues in terms of what you're dealing with as a woman and how you encounter
03:49that.
03:50And when I was younger, I was very much the girl who would talk trash back.
03:54And growing up in LA, it's not very, it's not a pedestrian culture.
03:57So it's not very often that you encounter people like that.
04:00But you would get cursed out, and that would just become part of the banter.
04:04Like, you would just be talking trash to one another.
04:07When I moved to the Bay Area when I went to college, it was a very different situation.
04:12I remember my freshman year in college, a girl going out and saying she, a guy tried to
04:19talk to her in the club, and she didn't give him any play.
04:22And he spit on her and kicked her in the back down some stairs.
04:27So I was like, um, okay, so maybe I should change my approach here.
04:32So it was very different.
04:34So when I would go out and if someone would try to holler and you were in the streets in
04:38Oakland, it was like a conversation.
04:40It was like an olive with my boyfriend.
04:41I can't give you my, it was like a whole lie.
04:42Right.
04:43There's a fake boyfriend all of a sudden with a baby.
04:44That you told me.
04:45That's right.
04:46That's right.
04:47That's right.
04:48And you had to do all of that.
04:49I'll be honest.
04:50I'll be honest.
04:51I've told my nieces, my nieces are, a lot of my nieces are 21.
04:54Are those ages where they're being approached, right?
04:56And I've told them, no matter what, treat the person with respect and kill them with kindness
05:04because it's hard to come back when someone's, when, because I've been rejected in good ways.
05:09Where it's been like, thank you.
05:11That was so, that was so nice.
05:12But I'm currently seeing somebody.
05:13But I don't think you came at them with da da da da da.
05:16No, no, no, no.
05:17No.
05:18Even when they come at you like that, it's just like, it's just like you, you combat hate
05:21with love.
05:22Right?
05:23So if someone comes at you aggressively, say, listen, brother, I'm sorry.
05:26You know, I'm with someone, but thank you for, for the flirtation.
05:29You know, thank you for the compliment.
05:31I appreciate that.
05:32You know, I'm sure there's, you know, I'm sure that, you know, somebody will da da da.
05:36Just, just defuse the situation.
05:39Because if they already given you that approach that they're aggressive.
05:42I'm about to say, I want to bring Christine into this.
05:44I want to bring Christine into the conversation.
05:46Go ahead.
05:47If a man told him that you're aggressive, he's already given you the hint that he's aggressive.
05:49Listen, I've had bottles thrown at me in DC.
05:52Why?
05:53I've had, I've been, I've been physically like assaulted for telling a man no.
05:57And I was, you know, I can't remember having these conversations with my parents because
06:02it's just like a societal.
06:04Different time.
06:05Understanding, right?
06:06That you, you appear somewhere, you put off this energy or you're kind.
06:10And it's setting the standard for women.
06:12That's unrealistic.
06:13Right.
06:14If I'm a woman who's been physically assaulted for turning down a man and I'm expected to
06:19be respectful.
06:20I'm expected to be kind and kill him with kindness and combat love with hate.
06:25No, you know, and it's for, for me, that's another way of absolving men of bad behavior.
06:31Yeah.
06:32I'm just trying to make him feel better when he's in the wrong.
06:34Right.
06:35You can't put yourself into the frame of mind of understanding what's going to set back
06:39a predator because you're not in a predatory mind state.
06:41Right.
06:42Good point.
06:43So you're not thinking, so by telling your daughter, okay, dress this way or do this way
06:45or be respectful, terrific parenting.
06:47But because you're being a good parent and because you're thinking from the standpoint
06:51of a man raising a daughter, you can't think as a savage who's just out to get a woman's
06:58attention or get a woman's company or do anything by any means.
07:02Right.
07:03That's not the frame of mind.
07:04They're not in a frame of mind of logic.
07:05And if you're in the frame of mind of kicking a woman in the back, spitting on her, throwing
07:08a bottle at her, chances are you're not in a space where logic is going to be your best
07:13friend.
07:14Right.
07:15What point does it be, okay, dress this way.
07:17Okay.
07:18Wrap your hair.
07:19Okay.
07:20Be respectful.
07:21At what point does that be, well, just stay in the house.
07:22Exactly.
07:23Don't ever go outside.
07:24Hold on one moment.
07:25Just one moment though.
07:26I need to put a pin in this real quick because I want to hear what they're saying on here
07:27on social media.
07:28Sure.
07:29And quite a few of you responded at Kessie underscore P tweeted.
07:32Yes.
07:33And it was very uncomfortable.
07:34But luckily there were other men his size around who noticed and addressed it before
07:38I could.
07:39At my tweetology said slapped on my ass.
07:42Just as humiliating.
07:43Turner, let the world know.
07:44And everyone pleaded the fifth.
07:45Welcome to Mardi Gras and Nola.
07:47And one more from at Shaqlin who said I was too slow to react because I was so stunned.
07:52Happened as I was getting off the train.
07:54I can't quantify how violated I felt.
07:59But actually, I went into trouble with all that.
08:04Made in своeton and Nola were made to be burnt.
08:07Dulu is to find Damit.
08:11Let's go.
08:12Motorbell'sубurf will begin.
08:13Let's jump in a second page.
08:14That says be exact.
08:15Let's go to Mardi Gras.
08:16Let's go to the front page.
08:18Let's see the second page.
08:20Let's go to S culmination site.
08:22Let's see the second page on that page.
08:23Let's go to S�� version 7 podcast.
08:26This page today is haha.
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