Straight Línea : A phenomenological approach to women's response to piropos in contemporary Havana

Abstract: This thesis investigates women's feelings on being subjected to piropos (catcalling) in their everyday lives. Through interviews with four Cuban women living in Havana, I analyse women's experiences of piropos through a phenomenological lens and through speech theory, investigating how norms surrounding sexualities and gender are materialised in and between language, bodies and spaces. I also investigate which acts of resistance and defence mechanisms my interviewees employ in order to cope with piropos. The first part of the analysis investigates the gendered dimensions of piropos, discussing how it constitutes gendered subject positions while enforcing gender inequality. My interviewees describe how being subjected to piropos makes them feel more feminine and links the occurrence of piropos directly to their self-esteem. They also describe how the occurrence of piropos conditions their possibility to move freely around the city. In the second part of the analysis I look at piropos as a heterosexual game in which different rules apply depending on gender. Lastly, this thesis focuses on my interviewees' accounts of resistance by analysing silence as well as verbal responses to piropos as a way of breaking the rules of the heterosexual game.