An anti-street harassment PSA that went viral last week left a lot of angry men asking the Internet, "Can't I just say hi to women?"
But when men say hello to women on the street, it's almost never just about a simple, friendly greeting.
In response to the video from the nonprofit Hollaback, many men insisted that catcalling is a harmless, non-sexual greeting and that the video was overly sensitive. (The actress in the video also received threats in the YouTube comments.)
That led comedian Elon James White to ask the perfect question: "If [catcalling] is all about being social and has nothing to do with pursuing the woman then why don't [men] be social amongst [themselves]?"
Dudes. If you feel society has lost it's decency, let's bring it back. Let's start the #DudesGreetingDudes movement! Say hi to each other!— Elon James White (@elonjames) November 2, 2014
Thus, the hashtag #DudesGreetingDudes was born. White urged people to take those catcalls and turn them on their heads -- using humor to imagine those same comments coming from a guy, being made to a guy.
"Humor allows you to tell the truth while not wagging your finger," White told Mashable.
"So I can't say anything to women in public ever?" If you're asking that question the answer is unequivocally yes.— Elon James White (@elonjames) November 4, 2014
White asserts the hashtag isn't poking fun at homosexuality; he's criticizing people who use it to do so. Rather, he hopes that people use it to humorously on social media to call attention to double standards.
"As with anything that is let loose on the Internet, you can't control what everyone who participates says," he said. "Someone that I knew directly attempted to participate and I thought his tweet missed the mark."
Remember #dudesgreetingdudes - We're not mocking gay guys or what they like/do. We're just saying "hi" to each other like we do to women!— Elon James White (@elonjames) November 4, 2014
The original PSA from Hollaback has faced criticism for editing out all but one white man on camera, thus targeting African American and Latino men. White said this shouldn't distract us from the central issue: "I found the video problematic ... To let the controversy around the video outweigh the genuine fears of safety that women have been speaking of for years would be irresponsible."
On Twitter, there is no shortage of people providing examples of creepy catcalls, which serve as perfect examples of the flimsiness of the "catcalling as a compliment" argument. While a hashtag doesn't fix problems, it can help raise awareness and make people feel less alone.