Love Is The New Hate

Is whistling at a woman a hate crime? In Scotland, they are discussing exactly that.

Makes perfect sense. If you protect women as a group, any offense directed at a woman can be construed as a bias crime. Remember, women can do anything men can do, except withstand unwanted attention.

When we unleashed the sexual revolution, we swept away the informal institution known as chivalry. Women wanted to do away with chivalry because they thought it imposed a behavior code on them. Chivalry was actually a code of behavior for men.

So instead of an informal code that men enforce on each other, women want a formal code imposed by the government. One problem there, is that assumes a beneficent government. Hasn't always been that way, and won't always be that way.

But let's say they do criminalize the wolf-whistle, and the cat-call. I can think of a dozen ways that men signal their appreciation for the way a woman looks.

There is air-kissing, grunting, moaning, and the male gaze. Will we get to the point where unwanted looks are an infraction?

All of this discussion involves something that is really a speech issue. The axiom is that you counter offensive speech with more speech.

The burka is also speech.