Catcalling Quotes

“Piper!” Frank yelled. “Counter those empousai! We need some chaos.”

“Thought you’d never ask.” She started catcalling at the female demons: “Your makeup is smeared! Your friend called you ugly! That one is making a face behind your back!”
― Rick Riordan The House of Hades

“Most women are all too familiar with men like Calvin Smith. Men whose sense of prerogative renders them deaf when women say, "No thanks," "Not interested," or even "Fuck off, creep.”
― Jon Krakauer, Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town

“I am not your dog that you whistle for; I’m not a stray animal you call over, and I am not, I never have been, nor will I ever be, your “baby”!”
― Joy Jennings, I'm Not Your "Baby": An Australian woman's tortured life of sexual harassment and assault

“We sat there smiling at each other, shimmied to a standstill, thinking about all the boys that had wanted us that day, and how none of them had got us, not for a minute; how we'd let them pay for drinks and candyfloss and then run away laughing, their cries of 'Slags!' and 'Bitches' ringing in our ears like respect rather than derision.”
― Julie Burchill, Sugar Rush

“His comments are not compliments, or even propositions.
They are declarations of ownership. They are threats.
They are the intrusive thumb of male privilege and patriarchal violence, reminding me of my place as I move around within public space.

They are the put-down, the screw-you, the worthless-slur, the great derision that is a constant, omnipresent reminder that society allows male sexual violence to function commonly as a social norm.

It is the constant reminder that I should always be scared.

That I am never safe.

That someone always wants to hurt me, and that society will always, always turn its face the other way, as seen by the normalcy with which men can publicly deride me with confidence and gusto in their threats.”
― Alice Minium

“An incredulous scowl crossed his face as he saw a gathering of dockworkers, porters, and cabmen near his wife. A navvy called out to her- "Gi' me a smile, ye sweet tidbit! One little smile! What's yer name?"
Cassandra tried to ignore the catcalls, while the coast guard stood by, doing nothing to shield her.
"Now, now, Mr. Severin-" the old harbormaster said, following as Tom headed toward Cassandra with swift, ground-eating strides.
Tom reached his wife, blocked her from view, and sent a chilling glance at the navvy. "My wife doesn't feel like smiling. Is there something you'd like to say to me?"
The catcalls faded, and the navvy met his gaze, taking his measure... deciding to back down. "Only that you're the luckiest bastard alive," the navvy said cheekily. The crowd broke up with a mixture of chuckles and guffaws.
"On your way now, lads," the harbormaster said, briskly dispersing the gathering. "Time to go about your business."
As Tom turned to Cassandra, he was relieved to see that she didn't seem upset. "Are you all right?" he asked.
She nodded immediately. "No harm done."
The officer looked sheepish. "I thought they would tire of their sport if we ignored them long enough."
"Ignoring doesn't work," Tom said curtly. "It's the same as permission. Next time, pick the ringleader and go for him."
"He was twice my size," the officer protested.
Tom shot him an exasperated glance. "The world expects a man to have a backbone. Especially when a woman is being harassed.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Chasing Cassandra

“People try to shame me for being fat. When I am walking down the street, men lean out of their car windows and shout vulgar things at me about my body, how they see it and how it upsets them that I am not catering to their gaze and their preferences and desires. I try not to take these men seriously because what they are really saying is, ‘I am not attracted to you. I do not want to fuck you and this confuses my understanding of masculinity, entitlement, and place in this world.’ It is not my job to please them with my body.”
― Adrienne Maree Brown, Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good

“The whistle buried under my skin and became a permanent part of me. I had a radar for certain eyes afterward. It was a heightened awareness of the bad shit that could happen if I wasn't careful, and I could adjust the degree of it, but I would never be able to turn it off.”
― Deb Caletti, Girl, Unframed

“Catcallers offer a valuable service to the community, and I'm proud to say I donate my time and energy to such a charitable cause. If you need me I'll be whistling on the sidewalk.”
― Jarod Kintz, Eggs, they’re not just for breakfast

“I see stunning men walking on the street everyday. Some walk shirtless because it's hot and they feel more comfortable that way. Do I scream out at them, beep at them or whistle? No, I smile to myself in appreciation of them and drive on by. Why? Because I believe they have the right to go about their lives without me imposing my sexual desire upon them.”
― Miya Yamanouchi , Embrace Your Sexual Self: A Practical Guide for Women

“Remember those dudes catcalling on the street? They have literally become cats (there is always room for more cats).”
― Alexandra Brodsky, The Feminist Utopia Project: Fifty-Seven Visions of a Wildly Better Future

“Deconstructed, I find its bits and pieces everywhere around me in the architecture of my social world.

I find components of its violence in the sexism of your comments.

I find it in the way you touch me without asking.

I find it in the way you call that girl a whore.

I find its bits and pieces of violence, the building blocks of sexual assault, in the psyches and vocabularies of my boyfriend, my professors, and my friends.”
― Alice Minium

“Deconstructed, I find its bits and pieces everywhere around me in the architecture of my social world.

I find components of its violence in the sexism of your comments. I find it in the way you touch me without asking. I find it in the way you call that girl a whore.

I find its bits and pieces of violence, the building blocks of sexual assault, in the psyches and vocabularies of my boyfriend, my professors, and my friends.”
― Alice Minium

“For it is the silent men, far more than the loud mouthy men on Warwick Boulevard, who make this possible. It is the silent men at 711, the silent men at the YMCA, the silent men next to us in cars, the silent men lying next to us in our bedrooms, the silent men we call our best friends, our boyfriends, and our fathers.

It is the silent men, not the loud ones- who permit foulmouthed men to chew me up and spit me out as I walk down the street.

It is the silent men who could have stopped this, but who didn’t care to, because they were busy.

It is the silent men who said 'Yes' to violence, and who, in their complicit silence, insisted that my world would be impenetrably loud.”
― Alice Minium

“Of course, my mother is her own person. Of course, she contains multitudes. She reacts in ways that surprise me, in part, simply because she isn't me. I forget this and relearn it anew because it's a lesson that doesn't, that can't, stick. I know her only as she is defined against me, so when I see her as herself, like when she gets catcalled on the street, there's dissonance…”
― Yaa Gyasi, Transcendent Kingdom

“I remember the exact moment, walking down Tenth Street in Seattle, when I started to see myself through men’s eyes. Horns started honking and I heard men yelling. I looked around to see what was going on. There was nothing. Just me. I was what was going on. I was the reason for the noise. Except for it wasn’t really me that was the reason, it was my body and my face.”
― Rose McGowan, Brave

“Engaging beautiful strangers who are minding their own business and achieving any kind of a positive result seems like a lie told by twentieth-century entertainment.”
― A.D. Aliwat, In Limbo