I have mixed feelings about it. I started working where I was dealing with long haul truckers on a regular basis when I was 15 and I had a lot of inappropriate commentary coming my way. I worked in an office once and had to be escorted to my car for my own safety because there was a man who was asking around about me and was being very overtly creepy and weird and it scared me. Those one-off situations I was able to let go of because I was in a work environment and was otherwise safe and able to call for help if anyone crossed a line. It's uncomfortable in the moment being hit on or catcalled by people you just have no interest in and you are just minding your own business trying to do your thing.
I don't feel as much about that because for the most part outside of one or two incidents I never feared for my safety. However, I've been in a situation where I've had people who I was close to turn to sexually harassing me, begging me for sex, trying to guilt and manipulate me, etc. Because of my living circumstances I could not escape one person in particular and the sexual commentary began to wear me down over time. I imagine if I was a woman living in an area where I was catcalled everywhere I went it would feel as bad as being sexually harassed and manipulated while also, depending on the area and the people around me, feeling unsafe. I think that combination would get to me over time and would probably make me take a LOT of self defence classes or even make me consider moving to a different area. I can empathize with this. But for myself personally this is not really a feeling I get with one-off cat calls because I am not as regularly exposed to it in my day to day life.
