Is whistling at women a male instinct?

No, it is not instinct for a man to whistle at a woman. Usually a man will whistle at a woman to get her attention, or to make her a non-verbal 'compliment'. However, many women find whistling degrading, intimidating and consider it a form of harassment.

Men do whistle on purpose, although, in many cases they may not think much about the impact of their actions, and they may whistle as an act of habit after their eye has been caught by a female.

Although, whistling isn't instinct, it is something which for many years has been common place, along with other forms of heckling including blowing kisses, and remarks about a female's appearance. Thankfully, this tradition is finally being accepted as unwelcome and outdated in societies which value equality.

The issue of street harassment was a hot topic just recently, after a woman documents many instances of being 'catcalled' whilst walking around New York. Here's the video, it's worth a watch!

Interestingly, a male documented himself walking around New York in response to the video above. He uses his similar experience to argue that being cat called isn't street harassment, as males experience it too. Here is his video:

In my opinion, all his video shows is that males are also subject to the same harassment, rather than disproving that it is harassment at all.

Rather than being instinct, it seems that whistles and other gestures to passing females, are really just a social construct, and the practice is left over from a time when women were valued primarily on their appearance.