There are some experiences universal to experiencing life as someone who moves through the world as a woman.
From feeling unsafe if strangers see them walk up to their front door, to fielding unwelcome advances from people they do not know, many people have taken to TikTok to share their experiences and advice for others put into similarly uncomfortable situations.
In particular, catcalling has generated a variety of advice from creators across the platform, ranging from encouraging people being catcalled to bark at the catcallers like a dog, to confronting and filming them.
One woman shared an experience in responding to catcallers at a construction site in a TikTok. User @berridaph shared that assuming the catcalls were actually the men asking her for change proved to be a humiliating experience for them.
“This man just catcalled me at the front of a construction site and so I yelled back at him, ‘Sorry, I don’t have any change,’ and the way that all the men on the construction sites started laughing at and pointing at him and made him feel so shit,” she says in the video. “It’s that simple. Sorry, I don’t have any change.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to @berridaph regarding the video via email.
@berridaph ♬ original sound – berridaph
Several viewers shared that they would be filing that comeback away in their minds for the next time they found themselves the target of catcalls, or other uncomfortable situations.
“I love this definitely trying,” one commenter wrote.
“Gonna say this to the next person handing out flyers at the train station,” another user said.
“You’re a genius!” one user praised. “I will be using this later.”
Others shared their go-to phrases used to ward off catcallers.
“‘Sorry I can’t bring home any more stray dogs!’ Is one of my favorites,” one commenter wrote.
“One of my fav ones is telling them to say something funny when they tell me to smile,” another user shared. “They always look weirdly confused.”
“Much better than my ‘sorry, I don’t think we’ve met?’ And ‘you’re acting very familiar but I don’t remember you,’” a commenter wrote.
