Catcalling women is not appropriate, reminds Calgary MLA

MLA Karen McPherson is expressing concerntoday after she was harassedby a man in a company truckon a Calgary street.

• Street harassment: Video shows woman being catcalled 100 times in 10 hours

The representative for Calgary-Mackay-Nose Hillsaid she was walking her dog back home on Fridaywhen the man yelled, "Where are you taking that beautiful creature?"

"I thought it was very strange and it kind of took me aback, and I looked at him like'I am taking my dog home,what are you talking about?'" said McPherson. "And he says to me, 'Oh no, I was talking to the dog.' And I really didn't know what to do with that, so I shook my head and walked away."

She said the situation wasn't sitting right with her, so she called the company when she got home.

"It's that attitude that I seethat it's OK to do that," saidMcPherson. "Ireally seethat that needs tochange in order for society to be more fair."

McPherson said a spokesperson from the company got back to her and they plan to follow up on the incident by getting a supervisor to speak to their employee.

Online reaction

McPherson posted about the incident on her Facebook page, which generated a lot of attention, but some of the comments said she should be happy to receive a compliment.

"There will come a time when you may be grateful for some appreciation of your looks," said one post.

McPherson says those type of comments illustrate just how muchthe conversation needs to carry on, and more people need to speak up. She says men need to realize how unwanted comments can be inappropriate.

"I'm not alone in this experience," she said. "It happens to a lot of women, and it makes a lot of women uncomfortable."

McPherson says she is grateful that she has a platform as a politicianto speak about the issue.