There’s a new form of harassment out there, according to the Feminist Internet: “tat-calling,” which is basically when a man comments on a woman’s tattoos.
“I was frustrated and uncomfortable that I couldn’t just go for a simple walk without being left alone, so over the course of 40 minutes, I tweeted (using the hashtag #tatcalling … every tattoo-related catcall I received – just to prove a point about what a day in the life of a tattooed woman out in public in a patriarchal society feels like,” Melissa A. Fabello writes in a piece titled “My Tattoos Aren’t an Invitation for Harassment — So Please Stop ‘Tatcalling’ Me” for the blog Everyday Feminism.
“One guy even literally stopped to show me his tattoos,” she continues. (The horror!)
And this is apparently a huge deal. Because, according to Fabello, if you’re a man on the street and you comment on a woman’s tattoos, you’re not just commenting on that woman’s tattoos — you’re “asserting your dominance by way of reminding her that she can’t simply exist without having to entertain the whims of men.”
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