Misogyny or Chauvinism?

For me, it is virtually impossible to leave my apartment without some sort of unwanted attention. A typical walk down the street gets me many stares. And I am not talking about a guy looking at me for a second or two. I am talking about a complete up and down stare, in which they clearly are not trying to hide it. Brian has colorfully named it "eye fucking". Many times it is followed by a noise, one of which sounds like what you do to call a cat over to you. The cat call is clearly their favorite as I hear it constantly. I have had cars full of men hang out the window and yell at me as they drive by. The other day a guy in his car asked if he could walk with me. I said "no" and he then followed me down the road, talking to me as he drove. He even acted offended that I was being rude to him as he was trying to make small talk with me. I get attention from the young and the old no matter what part of town I walk in and no matter what I am wearing.

Though I was a bit anxious about this in the beginning, I feel I have adjusted rather well. I will say that it is very annoying and degrading at times, but I have NEVER felt unsafe or threatened. I did however have an experience the other day that still irritates me if I think about it. Brian and I went to a health club down the street to look into possibly joining. I had been there once and they told me I could bring Brian by to check out the facilities and give it a try. When I explained to the gentleman at the front desk why we were there he told me we had to each pay 25 JD's (35 USD). I politely explained to him what the other guy told me last week and why we were there. He was quite rude, had a scowl on his face and told me "NO". After about 5 solid minutes of this, Brian says to him, "I'd really like to check the place out", and all of a sudden the guys entire demeanor changed. He smiled and told Brian, "Yes sir, as you wish", and handed us each a towel. As I walked away I was totally confused as to what just happened. I still am not sure which to call it, misogyny or chauvinism, but clearly I was not respected as an equal to my male companion.