#mencallmethings: catcalling

Perempuan dan lelaki. Wanita dan pria. Cewek dan cowok. Dua hal yang berbeda namun pada hakikatnya sesama ciptaan Tuhan. Yang disebut dengan perempuan, wanita, dan cewek ini sering dipandang sebagai makhluk yang lemah, makhluk yang menjadi sasaran empuk sebagai objek untuk dapat diperlakukan sesuka hati. Apalagi pada era sekarang ini, meskipun teknologi sudah berkembang, terkadang perkembangan tersebut tidak dibarengi dengan perkembangan mental dan perilaku manusianya. Dalam hal ini, masih banyak lelaki yang memandang bahwa perempuan, wanita atau cewek ini lemah; lelaki masih suka untuk membungkam perempuan baik di dunia nyata maupun maya. Dalam teori komunikasi pun terdapat Muted Group Theory yang mengangkat fenomena perbedaan gender antara lelaki dan perempuan yang mana dalam teori ini wanita memiliki kesulitan untuk dapat setara dengan lelaki sehingga menjadi satu grup yang "dibungkam". Belakangan ini marak pembahasan mengenai "catcalling" yang dilakukan oleh para lelaki di jalanan kepada perempuan yang sedang berjalan didekatnya. Catcall memiliki artian: make a whistle, shout, or comment of a sexual nature to a woman passing by. Dari pengertiannya, terkesan sepele: disiul, dikomentari, namun jauh dari itu hal ini menyangkut harga diri apalagi terkait dengan seksualitas. Catcalling dapat dikategorikan sebagai kejahatan seksual secara verbal.
Dalam artikel http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-11/evans-men-call-me-things-and-its-not-romantic-twitt/3659712 dibahas tentang hashtag yang sempat ramai di media sosial, #mencallmethings. Berikut kutipan artikel tersebut:

We all know examples of when the internet turns bad. Trolling is not a new thing, it existed even in the days of MySpace and GeoCities. What seems to be on the rise, is compliance trolling and the phenomena of anonymous digital misogyny. When did faceless men decide it was acceptable to take it upon themselves and threaten women online with death threats, rape threats, violence and sexism?
The horrid abuse towards women who have an opinion and dare to share it online, is a scary indicator of the health of our society. The rise of misogynist trolling towards women - and we're not just talking about the abuse directed towards Julia Gillard, Miranda Divine, Catherine Deveny or Marieke Hardy here - online is one of the things which at times, leads me to question whether my love affair with the internet is actually an abusive relationship that I need to seek escape from. Indeed, there have been times I've retreated to the women's shelter of real-life and re-evaluated the relationship.
This was at its most trying a couple of weeks ago. I made the mistake of conducting an interview with News.com.au on the appeal or not of Google Plus for businesses, and was subjected to days of online abuse, anonymous emails, and comment threads filled with men calling me 'love' and telling me to 'get back into the kitchen' and my favourite, 'the world would be better off without you'. Funnily enough, one of the men took it upon himself to email me after he had derided me for my 'silly little girl' views, and expressed hope that I wasn't offended and was tough enough to cop it. Thanks, Jim.
Within the women with opinions that I follow online, I've witnessed varying degrees of this sexist trolling committed nine times out of 10 by men who rarely use their real identity, and the impact of which ripples out affecting their confidence, their security and their credibility. Because if a woman complains online over this turgid behaviour, she's subjected to calls of being too emotional, or soft, or the old 'if you don't like it, don't go online'.

'Bitch', 'slut', 'whore' and 'love' are commonly thrown towards women online, along with rape threats and deviant violence references, and are very rarely called out by the woman scorned or by the online community surrounding her and the 'troll'. They're given seemingly without consequence, and perpetuated by compliance. I'm often told by colleagues, friends and my partner all with the best of intentions (love you guys), not to worry about the abuse or to fight it or even to respond as "it's just trolls" or "don't feed the trolls".
But you know, I can't remember the last time I was on the bus, expressed an opinion and had a man pipe up that he was going to knock me off. Nor can I think of a time I've been in a cafe, reading a newspaper and commenting on the issues of the day, only to have a man in a mask jump out and tell me I'm a silly little girl that deserves to be raped.
So why does this behaviour occur online? Is it simply because these men are empowered with the safety of their anonymity and computer screen and are acting out long-held feelings of disgust over women?
We wouldn't tolerate this misogyny on the bus, or in a cafe, or at school or at work or in a pub or Church, so why are we allowing it to happen online? It's time to call it out, ridicule it, and most importantly, make men stop it. The question is how do we do that? How do we reverse this vile and abusive digital sexism?
Perhaps Dr Phil has the answer; "Awareness without action is worthless". So, now that we're becoming aware, what's your contribution to #mencallmethings ?

Dapat disimpulkan bahwa internet memiliki peranan penting dalam fenomena catcalling ini. Untuk itu, gunakanlah internet dengan bijak untuk 'memerangi' kejahatan seksual verbal ini.