One Woman's Answer to Catcalls

I was walking down the street in downtown Washington, D.C., chugging on a bottle of Perrier. A bike messenger leaning up against a tree says, "Can I have some . . ." with a wink and a leer. I say, "Sure" and splash the Perrier in his face. Two African-American men walking toward me see this and, laughing, say, "Way to go, sister!" I start laughing and so does the bike messenger. We all laughed be cause my response was so appropriate to his request. I felt good about fighting street harassment that day, and I got community support from other people.(Theresa, 2001)

From: Racial Intervention Story Exchange (RISE)