Kerre Woodham: No harm in a wolf whistle

Maybe it's a generational thing but I really don't see anything wrong with a wolf whistle.

Graduates of wimmin's studies courses may well see this timeless form of masculine appreciation as an offensive objectification of women or as the first step towards abuse, but really! Aren't they taking themselves and their bodies just a little too seriously?

Certainly, construction companies are taking the complaints of women very seriously indeed. A Napier construction company put a rocket under its workers this week after it received two complaints from women about unacceptable behaviour emanating from the central city construction site.

The workers were told to button it or risk being evicted from the site for good.

Now, I don't know what form this unacceptable behaviour took. If it was loud and vulgar comments about a woman's anatomy, then that's a bit on the nose. But a wolf whistle? Dear me, we're a humourless bunch of buttoned up androgynes if we can't put up with that.

And it doesn't last forever. There is, or rather there used to be, a very small window of opportunity for being the subject of a wolf whistle.

I remember the halcyon days of the 80s, being 20 and living in Wellington. It wasn't the fear of being hit by a bus that made me put on good underwear when I went out, it was the fear of having my skirt blow up around my ears as I waited at the bus stop opposite the BNZ construction site.

I still recall the fateful day as I was crossing the street with my arms piled high with bags and books, when my wraparound skirt unwrapped. It was only a desperate grab with my elbows that kept it from blowing away down Willis St. A construction worker came to my aid and he was very polite, although grinning from ear to ear.

When we were talking about this on my radio show, a number of older women sighed that they'd give anything to hear a wolf whistle again. One said if she still had her licence, she'd be off to Napier in a heartbeat.

But some of the younger women took a more po-faced attitude. They considered it offensive and one pursed lip correspondent suggested in an email that only old slappers with low morals welcomed this sort of coarse attention.

One male caller was in favour of wolf whistles being banned because he'd worked in groups of men before and said wolf whistles are usually followed by ribald and often offensive comments about the women targeted. The man said he'd hate his wife or daughters to be subjected to behaviour like that, which was an interesting insight into the other side.

But for the most part, the whistles I remember from my past were accompanied by big, friendly grins and a raised eyebrow of acknowledgement. It was a 'You look great', as opposed to 'I want to shag you every which way to lunchtime, you dirty trollop'.

And even though I haven't done a wimmin's studies course and may not be as highly evolved as today's younger generation, surely there's a difference.