Catcalling “feels like a violation” and men need to be educated about why it has such a negative impact on women. 

That’s according to journalist and author Olivia Petter, who has said if she is only catcalled twice while out running, "then it’s a good day". 

Discussing the issue, she realised the abuse has become almost ‘normalised’ for women it is so frequent.

By contrast, her male friends barely gave it any thought at all. 

“The biggest step to overcoming it is education,” she told Newstalk Breakfast. 

“I think most men that I’ve talked to, haven’t even thought about it, haven’t even considered it. 

“I have male friends who go running at night and I don’t go running at night for my safety and because I’m too afraid - which is horrible.” 

Ms Petter and her housemate are both keen runners – and both are often catcalled in a way they find “unsettling” and “really horrible” in their local area.

“It often happens to us multiple times during a single run - regardless of the time of day, what we’re wearing, the time of year,” she said. 

“It is very consistent.” 

'Aggressive in nature'

Ms Petter said much of what is shouted at them cannot be said on live radio as the words are “lewd, objectifying [and] crude”. 

“Even if they’re not saying anything, sometimes it’s just a wolf whistle or it’s an, ‘Oi, oi’ or shouting, ‘Alright, love’,” she said. 

“It feels aggressive in nature but it feels like a violation because it’s someone trying to interrupt your daily exercise with a weird abusive power.” 

At one point, Ms Petter was even chased by a group of teenagers and had to take refuge in a local nail salon. 

When she began to write about the phenomenon, she soon realised her experience was far from unique. 

“Some of the women I spoke to for the article have talked about being intercepted by people on the street trying to talk to us when we’re running,” she said. 

“Being chased - all sorts of things have happened - and it’s really dark.”

In 2021, Amárach polled 100 women under the age of 20 and found 60% had been catcalled in the last week. 

Within that group, roughly half said it had happened multiple times.

You can listen back here:

Main image: Two women running in the park. Picture by: Alamy.com