For many girls, growing up came with more than homework, exams and the usual teenage drama. It also meant dealing with grown men and older boys who felt perfectly comfortable catcalling them on their way to school, at the bus stop, or even outside the school gates. At an age when many of them were still figuring out their own bodies, they were already being made to feel sexualised and unsafe.

In this article, we asked 10 women to share times they were catcalled while still underage.

1. “Men Will Always Find a Way to Sexualize Young Girls” — Amira*, 26

I was a girl who “matured” early, according to adults in my life. By eight, I’d already started growing visible breasts, and because of that, my life became riddled with older perveted men. The catcalling started when I was nine, but I remember a specific incident that happened to me in SS1. 

Usually, I use the school bus, but that day, I decided to walk home with my friends. We were almost home when this visibly older man, who was with his friends, shouted “Ahan, my wife, I wan suck your breasts o” or something along those lines. It was not my first time hearing men call me their wife in public or crudely talk about my breasts, so I was sort of used to it at that point, but when his friends started laughing and asking if they could join in sucking my breasts, the tears started coming. 

I didn’t know what to say to them, but thank God for my friends who had no qualms about insulting them. The entire experience was embarrassing, and it just made me think of how easier my life would have been if I didn’t have big breasts, but as I grew older, I realised that you don’t even need to have breasts before men find a way to sexualize young girls. 

2. “Ignoring Him In Front of His Friends Made Him Angry” — Daniela*, 23

The area I grew up in was filled with a lot of useless men loitering around, and they loved to catcall young girls, and when you ignore them, it’s quick to get nasty. This incident happened to me when I was in SS2 and around age 13. I was coming back from school alone when this guy, who was with his friends, started yelling, “Fine girl, come nau,” at me, and I ignored him. 

Ignoring him in front of his friends made him embarrassed and angry, to the point that he started following me. When he caught up to me, he became aggressive and asked why I was ignoring him, and I responded that I was not interested. After saying that, he yanked my hand, and it turned into a tussle. Honestly, I do not know what would have happened if a passing bike man hadn’t stopped and asked what was going on. 

3. “He Got So Angry for Being Called Out on Lusting Over Young Girls” — Tega*, 28

I am a light-skinned girl living in Nigeria, and that means I’ve endured a lot of catcalls from Nigerian men who love to call me their wife or their “colour.” I remember one time I was coming back from school with my older cousin, who was in SS3, and, as usual, a man on the streets of Bariga saw me and yelled, “My colour, na you I go marry o,” at me. 

I was twelve at the time, and my cousin, who is basically the sister I never had, asked him if he couldn’t see that I was a school child, and what sort of idiot is he? The man became extremely angry, asked my cousin if she was the one he was talking to, and then likened her dark complexion to a charcoal pot. I think that was the first time I’d ever seen a man get angry over being called out for lusting over an obvious child. 

4. “Why Was He So Comfortable Saying That to a Child?” — Lola*, 26 

There’s a particular road that I pass from my dad’s office to my mum’s shop, and the walk takes about 10 minutes. In those 10 minutes, I always faced the most ridiculous forms of cat-calling from men who knew I was decades younger than them, but persisted. 

One incident I associate with that particular road dates back to when I was 15 and in SS3. I don’t remember exactly what one of those men said to me, but it was about my breasts and how they looked sweet to him. In that moment, all I felt was deep discomfort because why was he so comfortable with saying that to a child? Later, I had to let my mum know I wouldn’t be coming to the shop again because the catcalls and even the grabbing of my arm by some of those men were a major concern for me. 

5. “I Hated My Body For a Very Long Time” — Kanyin*, 28 

I developed early as a girl, and it opened doors to all forms of harassment and catcalling by men and even boys in my class. I was 14 in SS2, and every day, I would face the occasional groping by the boys in my class in the morning, and catcalls by men on the street on my way home in the afternoon. 

I remember a day when I was still reeling from the fact that my class teacher told me that the boys groping me was technically my fault because my uniform was fitted, and on my way home, a man started calling me his wife, and when I ignored him, he kept following me so he could slap my ass. After that incident, I became convinced that my teacher was right, and I was actually seducing men and boys with my tight uniform, and that made me hate my body for a long time. It wasn’t until my final year at university that I started wearing fitted clothes again, and even now I’m still careful not to wear anything that might attract attention. 

6. “He said I Was Whoring Myself Out at a Young Age” — Tumi*, 23

I was around 14 when my body began to undergo obvious changes for the first time, and one day I decided to wear a simple gown to church. As I was walking to our youth church, which was a separate building from our normal church, a man who was sitting around saw me and started whistling. I thought he was just whistling for whistling’s sake, and I kept walking, only for him to get aggressive with it and start shouting at me. 

He was saying something along the lines of me whoring myself out at my young age because of the dress I put on. It was a frankly interesting incident to me because how was I whoring myself out in a church dress? Was it because I’d started growing breasts at the time? Till now, I still don’t understand the level of thinking, but it was frankly weird. 

7. “One Said I Would Be Pleasurable in Bed” — Janet*,30

At around the age of 14, I was what you would call a pick-me. Instead of running away from it, I thrived on male attention because I believed it was every girl’s goal. I wanted to be desired, and I guess that’s why I didn’t take a lot of cat calls to heart. I remember one time I was out with my elder brother, and a man at the market said I would be pleasurable in bed. 

I didn’t think much of it because I’d been hearing stuff like that since I started growing breasts, but my brother, who was 20 at the time, almost punched the guy in his face because of that. I was so confused by why he almost did that until he reminded me that I was 14 and shouldn’t be allowing any man to talk to me like that. Him saying that kind of opened my eyes to how horrible men have been to me, and honestly, that was one of the things that radicalised me later in life. 

8. “I Was Ignoring Them Until One Asked, ‘How Much to Fuck?’” — Rita*, 27

Men started catcalling me before I even knew what it meant. It was something my aunt said I apparently need to endure because it happens to every woman, and I listened to her until I was in SS1. I’d already started growing ass by then, and one day, I was passing by the SS3 block in my school when the senior boys started hooting and hollering at me. It was something that every girl in our school had to get used to, and I was planning on ignoring them until one asked, “How much to fuck?” and that was the last straw for me. 

I was thirteen and already having a hard time with the changes going on in my body, and I knew that if I allowed that rubbish slide, it would keep happening. So, I went home, told my no-bullshit parents about it, and the next day, they came to school and managed to get all the boys suspended. Everyone at school called me a snitch for months, but I didn’t really care, to be honest, because when the boys came back after their suspension, they made sure to avoid me. 

9. “He Asked How I Already Have a Big Ass Like That” — Elo*, 32

I remember the first time I got catcalled. I was eleven years old, a new JSS2 student, outside my school’s gate, getting ice cream, when this older man yelled, “Look at bumbum,” in Yoruba. I didn’t even think it was me at first, only for him to point at my ass and ask how I already have a big ass like that in secondary school. The entire incident was not only humiliating but also very confusing because I didn’t even have a big ass, then. I had the body type of an average eleven-year-old, so I wonder why he would even look at my ass and humiliate me like that in front of my friends and other classmates. Everyone kept telling me it was normal, but I didn’t think it was, and I hate the fact that we’ve normalised that sort of rubbish. 

10. “At Some Point, We Got Scared For Our Lives” — Mariam*, 25

Catcalling has become so normalised in my life that I don’t really care these days, but I remember when I was 16 and walking back from WAEC Saturday lessons with my friends, and these university boys on the side of the road started saying profanities at us. When we ignored them, they kept following us and shouting horrible sexual words at us. We kept telling them to leave us alone, but they ignored us. At some point, we genuinely got scared for our lives, and it wasn’t until twenty minutes into them following us before we realised that we could enter a woman’s shop and just stay there until they left us alone. They also tried to wait outside the woman’s shop, but thank God for her son, who threatened to call people to beat them. That entire incident left my hands shaking throughout the day, and honestly, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

11. “Why Were They So Comfortable With Being Nasty to a Child?” — Mimi*, 24

I was fourteen, going to be fifteen, and in SS2, and unfortunately, I was already used to men catcalling me even when I was in my school uniform. I have several incidents that are still very much branded in my brain. The first incident I vividly remember was stepping out of school with my friends when two men in a car kept hollering, “fine girls, it’s you we want”, even though they could clearly see us in our school uniforms. When we ignored him, they kept following us, and it wasn’t until people on the street started to pay attention to them following us that they actually backed off. 

Another one I remember was coming out of my school bus and after school, and a man on my street welcomed me with “Fine girl, it’s you I’ll marry o” I promptly ignored him because I was already used to older men catcalling me, even though I was a secondary schoolgirl at the time. 

Every time I think of the fact that I was basically a small child when all of these men kept doing that rubbish, I get so angry. Why were they so comfortable with being nasty to a child? They saw me in a uniform and still decided to be perverse. Horrible of them. 

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