Is wolf-whistling a sex crime?

You're welcome, Rosequartz. I agree with your point earlier re the type of harassment our generation encountered compared to what is happening today. I think white males feel under siege and backlash is part of the reason for the escalation, also the prevalance of porn , which is almost a regular form of entertainment. IMO Poppy has been brave in speaking up . Just as overt racism gradually became socially unacceptable, actions like Poppy's will help overt sexism also to become unacceptable, if enuf people join her.

And now as the OP can I ask the question again, is this a criminal act or just some unacceptable behaviour by a group of uneducated louts?

A wolf whistle is not a criminal act.

I did a bit of googling yesterday annsixty. It appeared to say that what happened to her would not be classed as criminal.
That was at best, what I could make of it.

I tried to view it on my tab POGS and couldn't. Perhaps I should have tried again today on the PC but have been playing with DD2. If anyone harrasses her when she is older they will have me to deal with (if I am still here or capable, a threatening granny with a walking stick would sort him out.)

It is harrassment. I am not sure if that is classed as a criminal offence nowadays.

Here we are:

Harassment is both a criminal offence and a civil action under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. This means that someone can be prosecuted in the criminal courts if they harass you. It also means you can take action against the person in the civil courts.

Here's a thing. When the Yorkshire Ripper was stillat large I lived in Sheffield for a time. One night, cycling back from a Scottish Country Dance class, on main roads through Sheffield, the driver of a Transit van overtook me, stopped, got out and opened the back door of the van and, as I passed on my bike, invited me to get in the back of the van. I ignored him but I felt quite shaken. He did this again. I was frightened.

The street we lived on was a steep hill up which I could not cycle on my three gear bike so I had to get off and push the bike up the hill while feeling very frightened. Fortunately there was a public phonebox near our house from which, as we didn't have a phone, I called the police to report the incident. I had memorised the van's registration number.

The police found the man and asked him what he was up to. He said he was just joking and they sent a bobby to see me and tell me that. I was not pleased.

I would certainly call that harassment but I'm not sure I'd call that a crime even though I think it most certainly wrong. I hope that man never behaved like that again.

In the case in question on this thread, I guess the woman got to the point of feeling frightened as I had and reported to the police in the hope of putting a stop to the harassing behaviour.

We have to "call such behaviour out". She has done no wrong even if we deplore the publicity.

When a cousin of mine lived in Liverpool and went to night classes she used to carry a box of pepper and a hatpin in her pocket. I suppose nowadays she would be arrested for carrying offensive weapons.

When I lived in Edinburgh I used to carry a footstool that my husband had made for me. It was quite clunky and, though I used it as a footstool at the meetings I was going to it would also have come in handy as a defensive weapon had I ever needed it.

The man placed you in a terrifying situation, thatbags but it was different to what happened to the woman in the news. At the time the Ripper was on the loose we were all on heightened alert and it was reasonable for us to be more easily spooked especially if someone did something as irresponsible as that man did. It wasn't funny because we knew there was a killer on the loose and we had no idea what he looked like or where he would strike next.

Doesn't matter what you carry with you if someone has a knife .

That is totally different to the original situation. That is criminal intent,possibly rape or murder. I am going to leave this thread now having got my fingers burnt for taking at face value a headline ,with not much detail, in a national newspaper. I hope not to be so naive again.

One of the men involved has now called her a 'silly little girl'. He has been in prison for affray - gosh, just the sort of person you would be so well advised to go up to and say ' excuse me but would you mind awfully not upsetting me by wolf whistling , blocking my path. I do realise that I have asked for all this by walking to work on my usual route when I should have changed it to avoid you. And I'm awfully sorry that as a female I have encouraged you to behave in this way. I did speak to my grandma but she says you really meant it as a compliment and that when she was my age she just put up with it. I am so sorry for all the trouble I have caused you by BLOODY EXISTING AS A WOMAN'

Whilst not making him a perfect citizen, being in prison for affray is not the same as being a threat to women.

I really am lost for words. I clearly live in a different universe from that inhabited by some posters on this thread and much prefer mine.

(1) A person is guilty of affray if he uses or threatens unlawful violence towards another and his conduct is such as would cause a person of reasonable firmness present at the scene to fear for his personal safety.

hummmm - clearly affray is not a threat to anyone, including women

He was drunk and stupid. He holds his hands up and admits he was a trouble maker. Five years on he's a family man who has never been in trouble since.

Being a drunk, stupid, trouble maker doesn't make him a potential rapist.

Who on earth said he was a potential rapist? He's a badly behaved idiot with no respect for women. Why on earth are you defending him?

You seem to believe everything he says and attribute the best of intentions to him whilst castigating the young woman.

GrannyTwice A brilliant summing up .

thatbags I actually feel that man's actions were deliberately designed to terrorise you and I can hardly believe that an incident of that nature didn't fall within any crime category. I wonder if it would now? What sort of twisted individual would think such behaviour could appropriately be described as a "joke". You must be made of stern stuff - I think I would have been a quivering wreck for some time after such a horrible fright.

I was not a quivering wreck. I was angry. Maybe the young woman this thread is about was angry too and that's what took her to the police and the papers. She has my respect in that case.

Annsixty-I hope you read this. Stripping this back to basics your original question was ' is wolf whistling a sex crime?' Straight answer to that question is 'no'.

Well said GrannyTwice.

Why on earth do some women do this?

The straight answer to the question may well be a technical no but the issue goes far beyond that.

I don't have sons but I do have grandsons and nephews, as well as a husband, lots of male relatives and friends. I don't know any male of any age who would behave in a way that could possibly cause alarm or distress to any female (or male come to that)

The way in which the men have been defended and the young woman castigated on this thread has shocked me. How would posters who do have sons/nephews/much male friends/relatives feel if they behaved in this way. A group of men, enjoying themselves by harassing a young woman. The issue about whether this was a criminal offence matters much less than the fact these men behaved very badly indeed.

I'm not condoning his previous behaviour just pointing out that being drunk and stupid 5 years ago does not automatically make him a threat to women today. It doesn't say anything about the other men involved so I guess they don't have an interesting past to keep the story going.

I've watched the video and apart from one wolf whistle I can't see anything else happening.

She only told the company on the day she reported it to the police so it's not as if the company had time to do anything about it. The police are not investigating or taking it any further. Are we saying the police are sexist too or is it that no crime was committed?