We asked the women of the BuzzFeed Community to recall the first time they were ever catcalled. And, because we live in a world that doesn't value the safety and bodily autonomy of women, we received hundreds of responses. Here are just a few:
Warning: This post discusses stories of sexual harassment and street harassment that may be disturbing to some readers.
1. "It was the day before I turned 12, and I went to the corner store with a friend to buy some snacks for a sleepover we were having. A guy standing outside tried to get me to come over to him, and when I began walking faster toward my house, he yelled, 'Hey, baby tits I want to be your little baby and suck on those fresh things!' Mind you, I was 11 and didn't develop early or anything, so he knew he was hitting on a CHILD."
"I was so shocked and embarrassed. My friend yelled something back at him and we ran the rest of the way home. When I told my mom, she laughed and said, 'Welcome to womanhood.'"
2. "I was 21 or 22 years old. It was 1 in the morning and I was coming home from work. I was walking down the street when I saw a guy hiding, waiting on a corner. As I passed by, he followed me while shouting, 'Hey babe.'"
—Anonymous
3. "I was 11 years old and wearing a cat shirt. A man with his son looked at me and said, 'I see there are two pussies here.'"
—Anonymous
4. "On a class trip to New York when I was 15, a man selling tours tried to grab me and yelled, 'Yo, that’s my girlfriend!'”
5. "I was 13 years old and hanging out with a group of kids. We were heading over to jump off a bridge by the river (small town shit), and on the way there we passed by this middle-aged man walking by himself. I remember I was wearing a swim top (tankini) with shorts, and this guy started to literally catcall me. He literally went, ‘pss pss pss,’ and coaxed with his hand. Ugh."
6. "I was 12 and walking in a mall parking lot. My dad was a little ways ahead of me, and some dude in his 40s said, 'Excuse me, you dropped your smile, beautiful.' I said, 'Ummm I'm 12,' and he said, 'Age nothin' but a number doll.' If my dad had heard him, he would've punched the guy."
7. "When I was about 11 years old, I used to walk to cheerleading practice and men would never fail to honk their horns or yell gross things out the window. It always terrified me and made me feel like I did something wrong."
8. "I was pretty old compared to most women. I was 19 and newly married, walking to my apartment with my (now ex) husband. A car of boys drove by and started catcalling and whistling at me. They kept pace with our walking. I looked at my husband and he just kept walking and ignored that his new, young wife was being sexualized by men right in front of him. Afterward, he told me that it didn’t matter and to just drop it, so what if people thought I was ‘hot’? That was not the reason for the divorce, but a red flag."
9. "I was 12 and walking home from the store after getting a couple of things for my mom. I had to walk along a fairly busy road to go back — there were no direct side streets — and a car of young men pulled up alongside me. They started whistling and making comments."
"Being shy, I kept my head down and didn't answer, at which point they cussed at me and one of them threw an open can of beer at me out their window. It took me a long time to feel comfortable walking to the store alone after that."
10. "I was about 11 years old at the time and have always been overweight. Some boy started talking to me and asked how old I was. When I told him, he replied that I shouldn’t lose weight when I got older, or I’d 'lose those boobs.'"
11. "I was about 12 walking across the crosswalk on a major road in my area so I could get some snacks from CVS. This random older guy — the only other person on the crosswalk — said, 'You have the body of a perfect woman!' while I was literally just in a men’s tank top and shorts during the southern California summer. It felt so gross."
12. "I didn’t have a bust until I was 15, and looked very young. But, after the summer holiday one year, I grew a bust literally overnight and I started wearing low slung skirts and crop tops. One night, when out with friends, a grown man pointed at my chest and told me he thought those would be 'fun to play with.'"
"Years later, now in my 40s and with an even larger chest after kids, I still get men old enough to be my father, or young enough to be my son, making comments, grabbing, and once trying to blow a raspberry in my cleavage. It’s one of the reasons I want a reduction."
13. "I was 13 and crossing the street with my mom and younger brother. These men in a car passing us started staring and leering at me....until they rear-ended the car in front of them. Sorry for the car they hit, but good riddance."
14. "I was about 10 years old. I was wearing white jeans because I'd fallen in love with them, and an older teenager made a comment about how my butt looked and wolf-whistled at me. I was so embarrassed that I never wore the jeans again."
15. "I was 11 years old and at a candy shop. I was super pumped because I had like $20 to buy whatever candy I wanted, and I noticed this man looking at me. I didn't really think about it until he walked by me and touched my lower back, as if to move me a bit as he passed, though there was a lot of space and he didn't need to be that close. I felt really gross about it but tried to shake it off as nothing."
"After I bought my candy and left the store, the guy was in his car and yelled at me, 'Hey beautiful, how about I give you a ride?' I was terrified. He followed me for two blocks until a group of men started looking at him. Twenty years later, I will never forget the fear I felt and the shame, like it was somehow my fault."
16. "I was 14 years old, on crutches with a broken leg, getting off my school bus in my school uniform. I had a huge backpack full of school books and my lunch box. My bus driver would hold the traffic so I could cross easier on my crutches, but this day just as I got to the pavement — clearly having a difficult time — a car full of old men decided to slow down next to me and say things like 'Oi oi, sexy, can we see up your skirt?' Recap: Age 14, in a school uniform, on crutches, and with broken leg."
No one — especially women as young in the stories here — should have to move through the world in fear of being catcalled or sexually harassed. For resources and more information about the fight against street harassment, check out Stop Street Harassment. And, as I've said many a time: To all the men reading this post, do better.
Responses have been edited for length/clarity.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you can speak to someone by contacting RAINN at 800-656-HOPE (4673). And here are sexual assault helplines outside the US.