Hollaback at leering

Winter coats are off, it's hotter than Hades, you're wearing as little as possible. Then ...... the unwanted leering, catcalling.... what to do?

Post the experience on HollabackCanada - a place for Canadian women to post photos of and shame their harassers.

Or read a recent article in the Toronto Star- where the question"When does looking become a leer?" is explored.

York University sociologist Rhonda Lenton: "There definitely has been a change in what type of behaviours are encompassed within definitions of sexual harassment."

Lenton says it also depends on context – a 14-year-old in an isolated location is likely to feel more threatened by a male stranger's attention than a thirty something on a restaurant patio.

"Quite a few young women would almost feel offended if they were out in the evening and feeling positive about themselves and nobody noticed," says Lenton, dean of the Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies at York.

And yet, her paper, Sexual Harassment in Public Places, found nine in 10 Canadian women reported at least one incident of public harassment – defined as "unwanted attention" of any kind, including "being stared at in a way that made you feel uncomfortable."

LINK: Toronto Star