Imagine walking down the street and a stranger screaming at your dog, “damn, where you get that ass?” or “I just want to eat you up.” Sounds absurd, right? Well, that kind of street harassment has become the norm for many women, including Elizabeth Hayes, creative director at D.C.-based Miau Miaou.
A victim of what 57 percent of women across the country have experienced, Hayes admits that she is actually guilty of catcalling—but in a slightly different way.
In Doggie Harassment, a video released yesterday that’s both amusing and sobering, Hayes produces a series of skits showing women saying things to dogs that have been unsolicitedly verbalized to them by men. The women go as far as to stalk the dogs on the street and approach them as they sit inside cars.
Every scene in the video is based on real-life experiences, Hayes says. “I want to say they are obviously over-the-top and ridiculous, but some experiences with men are just as bizarre.” D.C. in particular is a tough place for street harassment since so many people walk and bike around the city, she continues.
The concept for the video came about one day after Hayes biked home from work. She got stuck at multiple traffic lights with “the same, obnoxious car-driving man who did not once fail to make some lewd comment at me,” she said. As she recounted the experience to her roommate, she stopped mid-story to “make some kissy noises” at a passing dog, she said. And thus, the Doggie Harassment video was born.
Last December, the D.C. council hosted its first-ever roundtable discussing street harassment where women discussed catcalling incidences resulting in everything from post-traumatic stress disorder to a major head concussion.
While the video is a lighter way to push the conversation, Hayes hopes the it’s also impactful. “We like approaching tough topics from a point of humor because we think it makes them easier to watch and accept,” she says.
