„I have a fetish for damsels in distress.”
“Don’t be sexist.”
“Not at all. My services are also available to gentlemen in distress. It’s an equal opportunity fetish.“

„You have a transportation fetish.
I have a Gideon fetish. It's been weeks.“

—  Sylvia Day American writer 1973

Source: Reflected in You

„I put out an ad in the classifieds: ‘Wanted, superhero. I’m a damsel in distress’.“

—  Michelle Trachtenberg American actress 1985

Michelle Trachtenberg: On Ice http://www.michelletrachtenberg.net/articles/283.php
Explaining how she got an "X-Man" for a boyfriend.

„Princess Peach is in many ways the quintessential stock-character version of the damsel in distress.“

—  Anita Sarkeesian American blogger 1983

<i>Damsel in Distress: Part 3 (Aug 1, 2013)</i>
Tropes vs. Women in Video Games (Feminist Frequency, 2013 - 2015)

„Fair are the daughters of men, and fairest are those who read. Is there any creature more desirable than a damsel in intellectual distress?“

—  James K. Morrow (1947-) science fiction author 1947

Source: The Philosopher's Apprentice (2008), Chapter 8 (pp. 171-172)

„I, being born a woman and distressed By all the needs and notions of my kind…“

—  Edna St. Vincent Millay American poet 1892 - 1950

„I'm drawn to the primitive, the ritual and fetish elements.“

—  Cy Twombly American painter 1928 - 2011

Quote of Twombly in: 'Editions du Regard', January 1952, p.13; as cited in 'A monograph', M. Whittall, London,Thames & Hudson, 2005ns du Regard. p.
1950 - 1960

„You're distressing Dani. No one distresses Dani but me.“

—  Karen Marie Moning author 1964

Iced

„Was this some new level of depravity? Had he developed a spinster fetish?“

—  Lisa Kleypas American writer 1964

Source: Married By Morning

„Like so much of cool hunting, Hilfiger's marketing journey feeds off the alienation at the heart of America's race relations: selling white youth on their fetishization of black style, and black youth on their fetishization of white wealth.“

—  Naomi Klein Canadian author and activist 1970

Source: No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies 1999, Chapter Five: "The Patriarchy Gets Funky"

„When I speak of 'negative dialectics' not the least important reason for doing so is my desire to dissociate myself from this fetishization of the positive.“

—  Theodor W. Adorno German sociologist, philosopher and musicologist known for his critical theory of society 1903 - 1969

Source: Lectures on Negative Dialectics (1965-66), p. 18

„Born in iniquity and conceived in sin, the spirit of nationalism has never ceased to bend human institutions to the service of dissension and distress.“

—  Thorstein Veblen American academic 1857 - 1929

Source: Absentee Ownership (1923), p. 38

„If Women Have An Equal EMPLOYMENT Opportunity Commission, Why Don’t Men Have An Equal FAMILY Opportunity Commission?“

—  Warren Farrell author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate 1943

Source: Father and Child Reunion (2001), p. 197.

„Ok," he said, "I don't like to disturb you at what I know must be a difficult and distressing time for you, but I need to know first of all if you actually realize that this is a difficult and distressing time for you.“

—  Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

Source: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

„The planet is in distress and all of the attention is on Paris Hilton.“

—  Al Gore 45th Vice President of the United States 1948

„Sterile legalisms, the fetishism of law — otherwise known as the doctrine of positivism — have emerged as a serious impediment to a world order based on the rule of law, which must also be the rule of justice“

—  Alfred de Zayas American United Nations official 1947

2018, Report submitted to the UN Human Rights Council

„In all my perplexities and distresses, the Bible has never failed to give me light and strength.“

—  Robert E. Lee Confederate general in the Civil War 1807 - 1870

„Turn it off," Ryodan says without even looking at me. "You're distressing Dani. No one distresses Dani but me.“

—  Karen Marie Moning author 1964

Source: Iced

„I began to back away.
This is how I handle my women. Duck for cover when they get distressed.“

—  Glen Cook, book Shadow Games

Source: Shadow Games (1989), Chapter 5, “Chains of Empire” (p. 31)

„Sometimes I shrink from your knowing what I have felt for you, and sometimes I am distressed that all of it you will never know.“

—  Thomas Hardy, book Far from the Madding Crowd

Source: Far from the Madding Crowd