The 3D printed anti-violence whistle: emits high-frequency sounds to scare away harassers

Quentin Duteila young Frenchman, has developed an innovative alarm whistle called “repousse relou” to combat street harassment. The idea was born from the desire to create a simple, affordable and accessible tool that could help women and minorities feel safer in urban and nocturnal contexts.

The whistle, made of plastic using a 3D printerproduces two high frequency sounds thanks to its double air outlet. These sounds are extremely shrill and annoying, designed to to scare a potential harasser or to attract the attention of passers-by.

Duteil, a 3D modeler by profession, began distributing the whistles in March 2024, sharing his creation on social media. Since then, interest has grown rapidly. The object has won over the frequenters of bars, festivals and clubs in the place where he lives, Caen, where Duteil often takes with him several units to be distributed free or at a reduced cost.

The whistle is offered to about one eurothe cost of production, without any profit margin. The philosophy behind the project is in fact to make this tool accessible to everyone, considering that security is a common good.

He wants to make the whistle projects available in open source

Requests for the “repousse relou” exploded not only in his city, but throughout France and even abroad. To the point that Duteil, despite working full time, had to put in many extra hours to make and ship the whistles.

Despite the growth in demand, Duteil decided to, wanting to keep the idea open to all. In fact, he has declared that he intends to make whistle projects available in open sourceso that anyone can print it themselves with a 3D printer.

This little object has received great approval because it offers a non-violent solution to harassmentgiving the wearer a sense of security. The testimonies of many women confirm that, even without ever having used it, just having the whistle with you offers a greater peace of mind when they find themselves in potentially risky situations.

A simple invention can therefore make a big difference in a situation in which, unfortunately, violence against women is multiplying day by day and in which too often people are afraid to go out alone at night or go to clubs for fear of being attacked.