A Minnesota woman, fed up with regularly ignoring catcalls and lewd comments on the street, has begun taking a different approach, confronting the men in a firm yet polite way and inspiring other women to do the same.

Lindsey, a 28-year-old lawyer who prefers to keep her last name private, has begun stopping the men who catcall her to ask them what they think are doing. She then hands over one of 20 cheekily written business cards that explain about why catcalling isn't a compliment; it's harassment.

One card reads: "When you walk down the street do random strangers comment on how you look. No? Wow. That must be nice.”

Another reads: "I know you might think you can't help but comment on the appearance of certain people you pass, but think about it: only poorly behaved children blurt out everything that pops into their head. You're not a child are you?"

The cards are free for women to download off Lindsey's website, CardsAgainstHarassment.com to hand out to men who bother them on the street.

Lindsey explained to CTV's Canada AM that the whole endeavour began after an unpleasant incident in which a strange man began touching her hair on an escalator. When she asked the man why he didn't just trying saying hello to her, the man began yelling at her and telling her she was ugly.

"So I just thought the cards would be a good way to take what is often a unilateral scary situation and give women a tongue-in-cheek voice back to express our discontent with this kind of treatment," she said from Minneapolis.

Earlier this month, Lindsey began filming herself confronting men who remark on her appearance and posting their reactions to YouTube, where the videos have amassed more than 1 million views. Lindsey said she wanted to film the discussions to show others how often street harassment happens.

"I had some male friends express skepticism that this was actually a thing that women still experience," she said. "So I thought it might be edifying to film not only egregious instances, but essentially any time a stranger in the span in a couple of weeks approached me and made a comment on my appearance."

While Lindsey says she would never encourage other women to put themselves at risk by getting into extended conversations with some of these "less-than-charming gentlemen," she says the reactions she's gotten have been interesting.

Some men have refused to apologize, with one many saying that women were put on Earth "to satisfy men." Others others seem genuinely surprised she isn't flattered by the attention.

"Often these conversations, as long as I keep polite, end up in an apology or a discussion about where this is coming from," Lindsey said.