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feminist theory tends to frame street harassment in two non-mutually exclusive ways:
1. historically, a woman's place was the home; thus, harassment is men signaling to women that they are not in their proper place
2. through the lens of sexual objectification: men viewing women as objects for them to "sexually evaluate, appreciate, and potentially use"

Serano finds that the first doesn't match her experiences; and that the second, while accurate, feels incomplete.

"many of the street remarks I encountered made me feel as though I was merely a specimen that they were prodding witha proverbial stick in the hopes of getting any type of reaction out of me"

most infuriatingly, despite violating social norms, her harassers expected her to accommodate the intrusions - ideally with some form of acknowledgement. any protest or challenge, even ignoring them, resulted in anger or upset.