Noa Jansma, a 20-year-old design student from the Netherlands, is exposing a troubling pattern that she believes is reflective of the way many men around the world act.
Jansma, who is often catcalled in her everyday life, decided to document her experience by taking pictures of the men who engage her, uninvited, in an aggressive manner.
The idea was inspired by a discussion in one of Jansma’s classes.
"I realized that half of the class, the women, knew what I was talking about and lived it on a daily basis,” she told BuzzFeed. “And the other half, the men, didn't even think that this is still happening. They were really surprised and curious. Some of them even did not believe me."
To illustrate her point, Jansma took 24 photos with men that catcalled her over the course of one month. She then posted them to her Instagram account @dearcatcallers.
She captioned each photo with quotes and descriptions of the aggression she experienced:
"I thought men would be suspicious of me, that they would understand my motives when I was taking selfies with them. So I was kind of fearful," she said.
"But most of the time they have their thumbs up, they're happy because they honestly think that they're complimenting me. They really didn't care about me. They never realized that I was unhappy," she continued.
Jansma said she did not document all of her encounters.
"Of course, my safety is more important than this project," she said. "I didn't take photos when I was catcalled in the dark, in little streets," she said.
Jansma said, overall, she has received positive feedback in reaction to her posts. She said some men even thanked her for making them aware of the problem.
There are, however, people that have harassed her, calling her a liar or an attention seeker.
She is now asking women around the world to continue the project.
"I'm not the subject. The subject is catcalling. I also want to show that this happens around the world. But I want to make sure that responsible women do it, because what I do is a bit risky."
SOURCE: BuzzFeed