Congrats on your weight loss as well! Actually, one of the reasons I decided to lose weight and get myself well within my healthy BMI was because Type 2 Diabetes runs in my family, and I want to actively avoid it at all costs. My brain at times is very obsessed with being "thin" too, but as I've started to work out…

My hands are way too small to eat any restaurant burger uncut D: I'm also terrible at cutting things, so usually someone at the table does it for me. I also look five years younger than I am, so people tend to think I'm a high schooler or something. Embarrassing situation all around.

The sad thing is I don't think my parents raised me this way on purpose. My mom had been raised this way, her mom before her, so I do think she had my best interest in mind. I really think it was more school that made me feel this way. I remember in eighth grade when the teachers were explaining proper conduct in the…

How I feel about it.

To be "adorable-old" is my new long term goal in life. What a cute phrase! <3

One of my favorite articles on the subject :)

That's pretty much my father in a nutshell unfortunately :/

I think for a lot of catcallers it's subconscious. Most certainly don't expect you to engage with them, so it must be for another reason than starting a genuine conversation, and I doubt many of them afterwards think, "I just made that girl's day." Okay, well, maybe they do, but they're idiots.

As you've suggested, there's definitely a difference between finding a person attractive/well-dressed/great/etc and seeing them as a sexual object. I think as long as you make sure you approach those people with the former in mind (which it seems like you would), you've done a lot of work for yourself. The way you…

I've had friends that have felt the exact same way you do. There'd be times we'd be walking down the street and the guy who'd catcall would specifically single me out. This made my friends even WORSE than I did even though I was the one subjected to the "compliment," and I understand why. It made them feel like I was…

Most of the time it's not supposed "to work." I don't think most guys catcall women thinking that the woman will be so flattered that she'll run over, engage in inane conversation, and maybe give a phone number. Instead, it's either a conscious or subconscious way of exerting power over a woman since you, as a man,…

You summarized in a gif.

Unfortunately overall good people can still be ignorant to certain things. You always take a blow like that harder when you know the people dealing it are genuinely better than their comments :/

The closest thing to a "risk" a catcaller has is being publicly embarrassed, but usually another guy has to embarrass them because, you know, a woman who confronts him is just on her period. Not to say that I don't appreciate other people regardless of gender speaking up with this shit occurs, but it is an interesting…

Right. There's definitely a difference between finding a person attractive and thinking of a person as a sexual object. The former is rather flattering; the second... most definitely not.

I mentioned this on another comment, but I think the reason why men who do not catcall think that catcalling is not a regular thing is because the former are usually not around or simply not paying attention when the latter is happening. Thus, since it's not something that has happened often in their personal…

Unfortunately it seems like every time I have this conversation with a guy, he responds in a very similar way that falsettoland1980 did originally. I've tried to figure out why, and the closest conclusion I can come to is that, since guys who do not engage in catcalling are usually not "around" or "paying attention"…

Exactly! There are definitely situations in which a stranger can approach you and give you a genuine compliment on your appearance that makes you feel good about yourself. Unfortunately I deal with a lot more catcalling than actual compliments though :/

I agree with everyone here. Unless the guy is either starting to become violent or is so aggressive that you feel the need to confront him first, I would definitely go with engaging the woman being harassed instead. If the guy has a problem with you doing that, THEN take it up with him. The one time I had a guy come…