I went for a walk and saw a young woman subjected to something horrible.

It was the one time I wished a young female was so glued to her phone she was oblivious to her surroundings. 

Or had headphones in and had limited hearing to anything other than her music. 

But no, she was headphone-free and sensorily unoccupied. 

I was walking down a suburban street at four o’clock the other day when a bus passed me by, pulled over about eighty metres ahead of me at a bus stop, and a girl in her mid-to-late teens eloped. 

The bus pulled away, and a distance of roughly sixty metres separated the girl and I as we walked in the same direction along the footpath. 

Within a minute of the bus departing this quiet suburban street, I heard one of those monster ute things (I don’t know their official name) revving as it approached me on the road from behind. As it went past, I saw two blokes in their mid-thirties sitting in it. The driver revved the engine again, as if expecting me to be impressed by this amazing ute he had. I couldn’t have cared less; it could have been one of those new Tesla trucks I keep reading about and I still wouldn’t have cared. Cars don’t impress me. 

What I did expect - after the two revs - was for these two blokes to speed off up the street, as if to show me their ute truck was no only loud, but fast. But they didn’t. Instead they slowed, and it quickly became apparent why - they were done impressing me and had moved on to their next target. 

Rolling ever so closer to the aforementioned teenage girl ahead of me, the next noise wasn’t a rev, but a wolf whistle, followed by several quick beeps of the horn.

It appeared to startle the girl. I say 'appeared,' because I was too far away to see her face, however her sudden jolt and subsequent body language suggested as much. 

Typically, as cowards do, these two blokes sped off up the street. Foolishly, I failed to look at their number plate, as I’m certain they were off to objectify the next woman walking along the footpath.

You have to wonder what goes through the heads of idiots like these that they would think their actions are acceptable. And how their parents failed to raise them in a way that made them understand it isn’t. 

Harsh words, but it’s what I believe - if they were raised properly then harassment full stop (let alone this specific form) would never cross their minds, let alone become their actions, or come out of their mouths. 

Wolf-whistling to a stranger in any form is offensive and unacceptable.

I know television shows like Colin from Accounts have exhibited the ‘boob flash.’ Packed To The Rafters even had a scene where Rachel Rafter reacted to a bloke yelling out from a ute. But that is TV and this is real life, and this wicked act can cause devastating changes in a female's brain, as has been reported anecdotally in news outlets many times.

Caption: Ash flashes Gordon in the opening scene of Colin From Accounts s1.

Caption: Rachel flashes Jake and Camel in Packed To The Rafters.

After the two knuckleheads sped off, I picked up the pace of my walk in an attempt to reach the teenage girl, to see if she was all right and to denounce their behaviour. Unfortunately, I only got within 20 metres of her before she took a left turn into an adjacent street. Aware she may have been shaken by the ordeal, I was conscious that my approach needed to seem accidental. If I appeared to be deliberately and hurriedly walking towards her, I may have caused her more stress. For this reason, I didn't follow her around the corner, but peeled back, stood on the corner on the opposite side of the street for a minute, and was relieved to see her turn left again into an unseen house (from my angle). 

I say relieved because at least I knew she was safe, and that jerk A and jerk B weren’t going to circle back again and hassle her. 

The conversation on male violence against women feels like it is (SLOWLY) getting louder, although I personally don’t think it’s making any difference. You won’t hear me get political often, but I certainly don’t agree with Anthony Albanese or Peter Dutton that enough is being done. I agree with Independent MPs Zali Steggall and Zoe Daniel that more urgency is required (see video at bottom).

For that to happen, the conversation on violence, domestic violence, workplace harassment and harassment more generally, needs to get louder, and needs to include wolf-whistling. 

For a decade now, a 'king-hit' has been more commonly referred to as a 'coward-punch.' This has increased the community's awareness and disdain of the act, and resulted in offenders being shamed for throwing a fist rather than empowered.

I think something similar needs to occur with wolf-whistling and cat-calling, where we instead call them something like coward-calling and weak-whistling.

And the education of young men needs to be strengthened, so that every man knows verbal harassment or abuse of a woman of any age is wrong.

A wolf whistle or cat call is a despicable act towards any woman, but what makes this instance even more disgrace is that this teenage girl… was in school uniform.

Video: Independent Federal MPs Zoe Daniel and Zali Steggall raise domestic violence during Question Time on 27 November 2023.

*Video has been edited.