Any woman who has been catcalled knows there are only a few ways to react: You either stand up for yourself or you completely ignore it. A group of women in Mexico City known as Las Hijas de Violencia have decided to take a head-on approach. “When we are walking down the street and someone harasses us in any way, we run after this person. We grab our confetti guns [and] we shoot once,” Ana Karen said. “We turn on the speakers, and we sing ‘Sexista Punk.’”
The lyrics call out men who feel they have liberty to touch women. The song was released at least a year ago on Vimeo. The group hopes to encourage other women to also speak out, but they also suggest that they have fun with it, like they do.
Tackling street harassers head-on is certainly a thorny, complicated subject; violence against women in Latin America is a huge issue, and many may not feel comfortable or safe dealing with cat-callers this way. Still, Las Hijas de Violencia have inspired many.
“We certainly don’t think we are going to change the world,” Ana Beatriz said. “But we sure know we’ve changed ours.”
Mexico’s Harassment Issue“You talk to me as if you were going to rape me.”These Mexican women are fighting street harassers with confetti guns and punk rock.
Posted by AJ+ on Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Check out their video for “Sexista Punk” below: