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There's nothing that makes a woman's skin crawl quite like getting catcalled on the street. 20-year-old Amsterdam-based student Noa Jansma, much like the rest of us, was pretty fed up with it, and decided to do something about it. Throughout the month of September, she took a selfie with every single creep who harassed her and uploaded them on Instagram, captioning each one with the words of her abusers.

What do the photos say? By juxtaposing the catcallers' callous, unashamed grins with her own exhausted, painfully familiar expression, Jansma shows the world just how frequent, real, and disturbing these experiences are for women everywhere. She also gains power over them, though, by documenting their actions and putting them on display for the whole world to see. Though her own experiment has ended, she has opened the @dearcatcallers Instagram page for submissions in hopes of creating a global dialogue on the collective struggle women face.

From January 1st, 2018, catcalling will be punishable by law in Jansma's native Netherlands, and violators will be subject to fines of up to 190 euros ($220). If her daring project continues to go viral, perhaps more nations will follow suit.

More info: Instagram

#1

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Amanda Panda
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This made me throw up a little bit in my mouth. I definitely would NOT have let him put his disgusting paws on me.

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Amanda Panda
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Attracted to how long she looks no doubt. Too bad there wasn't a photo of the license plate.

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Amanda Panda
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Something tells me he's probably a virgin. He wouldn't now what to do with any girl. Perv.

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Amanda Panda
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sounds like he wanted to eat her, judging by the size of that belly, he probably did! Creep!

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Rebekah
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A bunch of men, at a table together. This just amplifies the scariness to me. Bastards.

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Agnes Jekyll
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That whistling is for each other. They know it won't get her attention, but it proves their manhood and humiliates her at the same time. If she ignores it, they get what they want. If she tells them off, it makes them even more proud of themselves. She's documenting it, and if they don't realize what tools they look like, at least everyone who sees them does.

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Cathy
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And all the time I was thinking 'well this doesn't happen in Amsterdam... Amsterdam people are polite'. Wrong. 😖

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#18

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LostSoul
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Hey girl, where are you going?" ~ "Home" ~ "Can we join? Where do you live? Think we can do fun things together"

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