Vintage Anti-Street Harassment Crusaders

February 27, 1923. Miss Alice Reighly, 1409 Harvard Street, president of Anti-Flirt Club.

How cool is this? I couldn’t not share this with you guys.

The Anti-Flirt Club was an American club active in Washington, D.C., during the early 1920s. The purpose of the club was to protect young women and girls who received unwelcome attention from men in automobiles and on street corners. The Anti-Flirt Club launched an “Anti-Flirt” week, which began on March 4, 1923.

It appears as though the aim was to stop women from flirting, too, but they specifically targeted men who cat called women on street corners. Street harassment is definitely not a new problem, and it’s pretty cool to see some of the roots of the movement to speak out against it.

Their 10 rules for the club are pretty hilarious. They seem more geared towards women and not towards cat calling men, but they remind me a bit of the daily rituals to stop to combat sexual objectification that were just written about in this Ms. Magazine piece. The language may be different, but I have a feeling that the idea is the same.

1. Don’t flirt: those who flirt in haste oft repent in leisure.
2. Don’t accept rides from flirting motorists—they don’t invite you in to save you a walk.
3. Don’t use your eyes for ogling—they were made for worthier purposes.
4. Don’t go out with men you don’t know—they may be married, and you may be in for a hair-pulling match.
5. Don’t wink—a flutter of one eye may cause a tear in the other.
6. Don’t smile at flirtatious strangers—save them for people you know.
7. Don’t annex all the men you can get—by flirting with many, you may lose out on the one.
8. Don’t fall for the slick, dandified cake eater—the unpolished gold of a real man is worth more than the gloss of a lounge lizard.
9. Don’t let elderly men with an eye to a flirtation pat you on the shoulder and take a fatherly interest in you. Those are usually the kind who want to forget they are fathers.
10. Don’t ignore the man you are sure of while you flirt with another. When you return to the first one you may find him gone.

It’s pretty fascinating to get a glimpse into the work that our predecessors were doing when faced with the same problems that we are today, and sad that not much has changed in the last 100 years.

-Britni

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