Workers ignoring attractive passersby while building shelter for those who seek it.
by Bob Powers
New York is a city with rents out of control and not enough affordable housing for its rapidly growing population. We need more residential construction, and we need skilled, well-trained workers to build it. Which is why this New York Post op/ed demanding that construction workers use their extremely valuable time to boost the egos of damaged journalists desperate for approval is nothing short of irresponsible.
Lewak soaking in the harassment while families die in the street.
While ostensibly nothing more than an anti-feminist click-troll attempt, this occasionally coherent piece from Doree Lewak celebrating catcalling construction workers should be read as a declaration of war on New York's neediest, waged by its contingent of insecure newspaper writers who require verbal harassment to feel good about themselves.
Lewak explains her need to distract skilled tradesmen from their work thusly:
But the mystique and machismo of manly construction workers have always made my heart beat a little faster — and made my sashay a little saucier. It’s as primal as it gets, ladies!
...My drive-by dose of confidence is the 10-second antidote to all that negative feedback in the real world, where reverberations stick.
For me, it’s nothing short of exhilarating, yielding an unmatched level of euphoria.
Imagine the euphoria of a family finding affordable shelter that wasn't delayed by insecure media types goading tradesmen into putting down their tools and shouting epithets.
Imagine the euphoria of a city restored to its former scrappy glory, having finally made room again for artists, musicians, dancers and authors.
Imagine the euphoria of a construction worker who gets to look up at the building he helped complete without the interruption of women who fetishize his hardhat and profane tongue.
But what does all that compare to one young woman briefly feeling the joy of sexual objectification?
And when I know I’m looking good, I brazenly walk past a construction site, anticipating that whistle and “Hey, mama!” catcall. Works every time — my ego and I can’t fit through the door!
With just a simple beach photo posted to Instagram, Leewak could have thousands of strangers telling her disgusting things they'd like to do to her body. But, she requires the gratification of her IRL harassment, leaving New Yorkers without any options.
Just a few days ago the New York Observer reported that the housing being built in our city "doesn't meet the needs of New Yorkers." A piece in Crains said that Bill de Blasio's plan to add 200,000 units of affordable housing to New York's real estate landscape over the next decade is likely to remain nothing more than a dream, with 10,000 fewer units than average added over the past year, and many of them aimed at high-end luxury buyers.
Construction workers can't build these buildings fast enough, and unwelcome distractions are only going to delay putting roofs over the heads of families in need. Should the New York Post really call for construction workers to take time out from their already taxed workday to make lewd comments about female Post staffers just to make them feel better about their physiques?
I realize most women with healthy self-confidence don’t court unwanted male attention. In fact, most women seem to hate it.
Do they only hate unwanted male attention? Or do they also hate the thought of another winter with people suffering in the cold, living ten to an apartment, praying for the Lord to bless construction workers' hammers and drills with the swiftness to bring them a home before they are bested by the elements of another Northeastern February?
Or perhaps they want those buildings to be built safely, with the attention of their workers focused on construction, and not the weird cravings of Post staffers.
It's not just the plight of those without proper housing that Lewak fails to consider. She also gleefully makes light of slavery itself.
I imagine the catcall stretches back to ancient construction times, when the Israelites were building the pyramids, with scores of single Jewish women hiking up their loincloths, hoping for a little attention.
Archaeologists have found that Israelites weren't Egyptian slaves until long after the Pyramids were built, but Lewak's reference to "Israelites" and Jewish women indicates she still subscribes to this false notion. Therefore, the above excerpt is nothing but a callous imagining of enslavement as a jaunty workout in the sun, with women taunting these slaves for their own sexual satisfaction.
Selfish. That's the only word to describe New York Post writer Doree Lewak. A selfish woman who puts her own personal validation before the countless families in need of livable residential units in an overcrowded, hostile city.