Winking and whistling. Acceptable and non acceptable.

Over my years I have been both winked and whistled at.
It can be lighthearted, flirtatious or many other things.
Also, it can be just a friendly innocent gesture.

Some winking and whistling I don't prefer, just depends
on when and where often times, and whom.
 
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I have whistled and made kiss sounds. Mmmmwm psss psss psss psss. I did it in former Yugoslavija on a holiday in the 80s and a guy looked so surprised, cause the guys there whistled. Not the girls. I was just making those sounds to a cat though.

I did once send a huge big horribly ugly smiley of a wink to a guy on a dating site. He had in his profile: Please don't send a wink, so I had to.

I still whistle at cats by the way.
 
I've never done either. If I wanted a lady's attention, I'd just go talk to her.

I've never worked a job where women had any occasion to walk by unless they worked there, too. They had reason to drive by, when I drove heavy-equipment and the work site was near traffic. Whistling and howling was prohibited, but I wouldn't do it if it wasn't.

I just didn't think it could get a guy anywhere; it could only make him look silly. I wasn't into flirting like that. I took flirting seriously. I had to get an idea of what kind of woman I was flirting with, so there was always a little conversation first. And then, maybe I would or maybe I wouldn't.
 
"To whistle is low class and subordinate, and what does the man expect the woman to do in return? She has about 3 resonable choices: ignore it, smile back, or show disgust. Neither party gains anything longterm, so it's sort of pointless." From -> my post 127, 08/02/25
#4: Or she could be flattered and so take it in the spirit it was intended. No response needed on her part. Just sayin'. Not everyone has an evil intent. When you think of construction workers who are bored to death on the job, seeing an attractive woman makes their day better.
 
"To whistle is low class and subordinate, and what does the man expect the woman to do in return? She has about 3 resonable choices: ignore it, smile back, or show disgust. Neither party gains anything longterm, so it's sort of pointless." From -> my post 127, 08/02/25
Oh, thank you, Mack!!! (For that link.) I knew I saw this conversation before and that picture, but then I started questioning myself and thought maybe it was a false memory or deja vu. :ROFLMAO:
 
#4: Or she could be flattered and so take it in the spirit it was intended. No response needed on her part. Just sayin'. Not everyone has an evil intent. When you think of construction workers who are bored to death on the job, seeing an attractive woman makes their day better.
Construction workers whistled sometimes in the 80s, which was fun and totally acceptable, but for the rest nope, not in my country. I was a teen with long blonde hair. Nobody whistled or showed any interest ever. I felt like an ugly monster. Then we went to Yugoslavija on a holiday. Really boosted your confidence. They whistled at anything that was blonde.

 
I think it all comes down to the circumstances.

If you mean in a social environment where people are flirting and someone winks then it's fine, especially if the other person is interested. In the context of a social situation then winking is, I think, an innocent gesture of interest. Whistling though is probably a thing of the past.

If you mean just random people winking and whistling at anyone they find attractive - No! You likely didn't mean that at all - imagine being in the supermarket and there's someone winking and whistling at you, they'd probably be arrested!

As construction workers have been mentioned, I probably have an unpopular view because, I think it was a casual form of sexist harassment. The idea that a woman could not walk past a building site without being subjected to wolf whistles, catcalling and sometimes even sexual comments and, it was okay, a compliment even, is just horrible.
 
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