Musings and rantings

Following a very unpleasant comment I received on Saturday from a 'gentleman' leaning out of his car window and shouting "How much darlin'?", I have been musing about the way that women's dress is received in daily life.  On Saturday I was wearing about 1 1/2 inch high heels and a knitted dress from h&m, which was short but covered everything, and also walking with my brother (all scruffy 6ft 3 of him).  And yet this guy felt it was appropriate to shout at me that I looked like a prostitute.  I responded by sticking my middle finger up at him, to which his passenger guffawed, but what in the hell made it OK for him to say that?  I must admit it actually irked and upset me for quite a sizeable chunk of the rest of my day.

Why is this perceived as OK?  When doing internships and wearing formal dresses, I get catcalls, wandering through city centres in skirts gets comments- although it always seems to be if I'm wearing a skirt and generally not if I've got a low cut top on, even though I consider my boobs more interesting than my legs!

But why the comments?  Noone comments if a guy goes out wearing shorts or something.  Is a woman's body perceived as public property?  Why can I not wear a dress and shoes that I happen to think make me look pretty without becoming seen as just an easily accessible sex object?  It seems as if a woman's dress is often taken as part of a performance and indeed a call for lewd comments- regardless of whether she is dressing for herself or even trying to impress someone, her body becomes part of the public domain.  Is it a way of reprimanding a woman who is seen as stepping out of line, in that women should not be trying to dress attractively?  Or do men like the man in the car think that if they demand something sexual from a woman they happen to see, she should be flattered and acquiesce?

I certainly am not prepared to accept comments like this.  Petty as it may be, I'll always yell or make a rude gesture, whilst the mental former martial artist part of me is dying to get into a fight with the commenter.  But is this the right response?  Is it empowering to tell them to fuck themselves, or better to not dignify such action with any recognition?