"A woman knows a skirt-chaser"
About this Quote
Alveda King’s line lands like a church-side aside: blunt, slightly teasing, and meant to travel fast. “A woman knows a skirt-chaser” isn’t trying to be poetic; it’s trying to be useful. The power is in its compression. “Knows” implies a kind of lived literacy - pattern recognition earned the hard way - and it quietly elevates women as credible judges in a culture that often doubts their read of men’s motives. “Skirt-chaser” is old-fashioned slang, almost quaint, which lets the accusation pass as common sense instead of scandal. It’s moral critique smuggled in as folksy wisdom.
As a clergyperson, King is also working a familiar pastoral register: warning without sounding punitive. The subtext is about accountability and self-protection. Women are urged to trust their instincts; men are reminded that reputations are social, not private. It hints at a community ethic: flirtation isn’t merely personal “behavior,” it’s a relational disturbance that women, in particular, are forced to manage.
There’s also a gendered edge that’s doing real work. The sentence assumes women are the ones who must detect and deflect male promiscuity, placing surveillance labor on them. That may reflect a conservative sexual framework, but it can also read as feminist in a street-level way: stop gaslighting women about what they’re seeing. The context, then, is less romance than power - who gets believed, who gets warned, and who pays the social cost when desire turns predatory.
As a clergyperson, King is also working a familiar pastoral register: warning without sounding punitive. The subtext is about accountability and self-protection. Women are urged to trust their instincts; men are reminded that reputations are social, not private. It hints at a community ethic: flirtation isn’t merely personal “behavior,” it’s a relational disturbance that women, in particular, are forced to manage.
There’s also a gendered edge that’s doing real work. The sentence assumes women are the ones who must detect and deflect male promiscuity, placing surveillance labor on them. That may reflect a conservative sexual framework, but it can also read as feminist in a street-level way: stop gaslighting women about what they’re seeing. The context, then, is less romance than power - who gets believed, who gets warned, and who pays the social cost when desire turns predatory.
Quote Details
| Topic | Relationship |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
King, Alveda. (2026, January 15). A woman knows a skirt-chaser. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-woman-knows-a-skirt-chaser-149445/
Chicago Style
King, Alveda. "A woman knows a skirt-chaser." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-woman-knows-a-skirt-chaser-149445/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"A woman knows a skirt-chaser." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-woman-knows-a-skirt-chaser-149445/. Accessed 19 Feb. 2026.
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