Catcalling seems to be the inescapable plague of our streets, and it often tends to veer into sexual harassment or in even worse cases, sexual assault.

As part of a Lovin Malta series about catcalling in Malta, we’ve put together some tips on what a woman should do when she is catcalled.

Lovin Malta asked the police about what one should do if they are catcalled and was told that “incidents of catcalling should be reported immediately to the Police to increase the chances of tracing and apprehending the aggressors.”

Now that might seem a bit vague, so we’ve compiled some tips on how you should react.

1. If the perpetrator is driving, immediately take a photo of their number plate and report it to the police

In such a case, it would be relatively easy for the catcaller to be caught, as the police will have their car number plate, making it very easy for them to be tracked.

2. Take a photo of the location where the incident happened, and include it in your report to the police

This will aid the police in effectively tracking the offender, especially if they often frequent the place of the incident.

3. In other cases, try to take a photo of the attacker’s face, and include it in your report to the police

The police are fully equipped to track someone using their face, so this is another way of exposing a catcaller.

4. Start recording! 

Catcallers are often intimidated and threatened the second that you take out your mobile phone and start taking a video of them, because who wants to be exposed like that? So take advantage of that, and try it out the next time it happens.

5. In more severe cases, go live on your social media platform of choice

Another option is for the victim to go on live stream, especially if they are in a more grave situation. This would help in scaring the aggressor away while having a live feed of what is currently happening at that moment, also providing the police a video of what went down.

Catcalling cannot continue to be accepted as “something normal that happens in our streets”.  Victims need to start fighting back and catcalling needs to start to be recognised as the crime that it is.

If you want to share your story on sexual harassment please reach out to [email protected].

If you would like to reach out to authorities please reach out to Victim Support Malta at [email protected].