WOLF IN WHISTLERS CLOTHING

The wolf whistle, once the mainstay of every bawdy comedy sketch, sitcom or film, let rip from its owners mouth to express desire for what it sees before them, yet you barely hear it at all these days.

Some will say it’s all down to that good old institution of Political correctness gone mad, that you aren’t allowed to say or do anything nowadays for fear of offending somebody in some way but I beg to differ, it’s not yet another thing hijacked by the fun police you’re not allowed to do anymore it’s just that what was once something that was perhaps a fellow trying to pay someone a compliment seems to have evolved into something that at times comes across as a lot more sinister.

Having gone through puberty at quite an early age myself and being gifted with slightly more front than the average 11 year old as you can imagine in the past 30 years I’ve endured more than my own fair share of harassment for the size of certain parts of my figure .

I could have let it upset me, idiots shouting out of car windows or yelling at me in street about my large appendages but instead I used to just react with a well timed “well what do you know, how did they get there, well spotted, I’ve never noticed them before “and leave them dumbfounded and confused as they were delivered a retort they hadn’t expected and I flounced off into the distance.

Yet even behind my breastplate of steel even I have had my moments when what was apparently supposed to be a “compliment” was enough to reduce me to tears.

Picture the scene , it’s your birthday , you’re not exactly football’s biggest fan , however England are playing ,which would be upsetting enough as it is I know , but it’s an important match in a major tournament so there weren’t many other places you could expect to be going than to the local pub to watch the game.

Now imagine spending the evening trying to have a good time despite it not being your thing whilst being bellowed constantly from every side of where you’re sitting to be a good sport for the gents involved by revealing what lies beneath what you’re wearing , although not quite so politely as i am wording it .

I’m guessing that you like me would find it after about the hundredth time somewhat wearying and having not been in the best mood anyway to be spending your birthday in a dingy old boozer watching England doing what they do best, in other words losing, you might feel a little emotional at best at the pack mentality of some men once they’ve got a couple of drinks down their necks.

That incident is nothing however to the sort of abuse I hear being bawled everyday at women and girls in the street, in fact I was disgusted to hear some of the things that were being called out to girls by one of the local secondary schools recently, not just by kids as young as my own but also by adult males who should really know better.

Joanna Lumley was quoted this week as saying that wolf whistlers are harmless and women should not be such delicate flowers and regard it as a compliment.

However there’s a vast difference between a small burst of tune to express “you look alright, darling” and the abuse and pursuit of someone whose feelings for you may or may not be reciprocated.