I started being catcalled when I was in my early teens. Maybe 15 to 16 years old. I was able to ignore it pretty well until this year, when it started happening almost every time I went on a run. During the summer, the cross country team runs long runs on the [Washington and Old Dominion] trail and we are also asked to run by ourselves. Usually I try to run with someone, but it doesn’t always work out that way. I usually start my run and am running at a decent pace. I start getting tired, sweaty, and nobody looks pretty while running, but suddenly I hear things like “hello beautiful” or I hear someone whistle from a passing car. There was one time where I was running in front of Marshall High School and a man literally was hanging out of the car window and he yelled something to me and gave me a super creepy look. This happens all the time, from creepy hellos to more personal comments, and it angers me to no end. What do these men think they are going to achieve? I have told others about this and they say “maybe they’re just shooting their shot.” Really? They’re shooting their shot to see if a sweaty teen will react to them? Some would argue that the comments relating to my appearance are compliments, but they are obviously not because I look terrible while running. No one looks attractive while running and it is just not the appropriate setting to talk to someone like that. It is never the appropriate setting to talk like that. It is gross and scary. After men say things like that to me, I feel almost guilty for having gone on runs by myself. I sometimes even had to ask my mom or sister to bike alongside me so that I could get my runs in. I get a terrible feeling inside me and I know my running
performance becomes worse after I hear those things. It is not fair for them to mess up my life. Catcalling will never get anyone anywhere. It is completely unnecessary and disturbing.
—Nina Orozco, senior