A young woman has revealed the offensive act she was subjected to while she was minding her own business during a morning walk.
Laura Henshaw, co-founder and chief executive of health and wellness app Kic, was walking down a busy Melbourne street on Monday when she said two men in a car purposely slowed down to shout comments about her body.
Ms Henshaw said she was initially “angry” at the men whistling, but was shocked when they repeated the act three more times along a 800-metre stretch of road.
In a video posted to TikTok, Henshaw said she felt that the first time men tried to get her attention, they “almost thought it was a compliment.”
She added that her experience showed that men felt entitled to impulsively shout at strangers.
Ms Henshaw said she felt increasingly insecure as the couple continued to make comments to her such as “you look fine”.
“Let me tell you, you calling me ‘sexy baby’ from the car doesn’t make me feel good,” she told her followers.
The young businesswoman said the law makes women feel “unsafe… violated… (and) objectified.”
Health and wellness app Kic co-founder and CEO Laura Henshaw (pictured) has revealed how two men in a car shouted comments at her multiple times during a morning walk.
Ms Henshaw hoped the video would reach those who think it’s OK to yell at a random woman.
“Do you think that’s appropriate? It’s not,” he said.
Several users commented on Ms Henshaw’s post to reveal personal experiences of being catcalled.
“It happens quite often when I go for a walk. I don’t participate, but it’s definitely not a pleasant feeling,” said one user.
“I often don’t feel safe going for a run in my neighborhood,” another person wrote.
“And when I do, I try to cover myself up so that men don’t look at me or say things (because) they’ve done it many times before.”
A third said a car drove around in circles three times yelling at her as she ran, adding: “I had my headphones on so I didn’t know what they were saying, but it terrified me.”
Another user said she was shouted at with hateful comments before losing weight.
“They were always saying nasty things like ‘fat pig’ and stuff like that,” she wrote.
“It makes you feel horrible.”
A joint effort between humanitarian organisation Plan International and beauty brand L’Oréal launched in 2022 was designed to help Australians learn how to intervene and stop street harassment.
This followed a survey of 2,000 Australians in 2022 which found 78 per cent of women had experienced some form of street harassment in a public space.
Ms Henshaw (pictured) said catcalling made women feel unsafe, violated and objectified, while many of those who commented on her post revealed the act is extremely common.
“Women, girls and gender diverse people have normalised and internalised street harassment for too long,” said Susanne Legena, executive director of Plan International Australia.
‘Unwanted sexual behavior is not a compliment, it’s a crime.
“Everyone, especially young people, deserves to be free, safe and equal in their city and that will only happen when we can eliminate street harassment for good.”
One of the program’s advocates, Angelica Ojjnnaka, said women who have been harassed begin to change the way they act in public.
“Some of us stopped going out at night, or only went out with one other person, some avoided public transport, some changed the way we dressed or kept our keys tightly clutched in our hands,” he said.