Yep. But, as mentioned upthread, most of these meatheads are intimidated by size, so that’s all it takes. And if you’ve smiled and been nice to the fat man at the door, he keeps an eye on you in the bar, and lumbers over if you give him a nod to take out the trash.
And what do you expect those guys to do?
“This man is making me uncomfortable!”
“…”
ETA: He keeps an eye on you? Does he look out for all the dozens of women in the place? In between each ID check? He catches your special signal over the heads of the crowd and the music? Really?
I’ve never even had to say that much. They literally collar them, walk them out the door and then whatever happens next isn’t my concern. I order another Guinness and finish my game of pool.
Not that this has happened often, mind you. Most of the time I just ignore them until they go away, muttering something about “stuck up fucking bitches.”
Beer bottle to the face.
Beer bottles are actually quite hard to break(against the body, at least). They don’t smash IRL like they do in the movies. Doesn’t mean it’s not a good weapon, though. 
It would depend on how I read the situation on approach. I know my woman is quite capable of giving the average drunk the brush-off so I’d start with just making my presence known where she could draw me in if he doesn’t take a hint well. She would be nice until it was time for me to not be nice. Or for security to not be nice if there are any paying attention.
It doesn’t need to smash. It needs to hurt.
Mine too, but also there are people who won’t take “no” for an answer and whose reaction to being ignored is trying to stick their dick through your jeans. There have been times when I’ve been one of the friends who came to somebody’s rescue and times when I’ve been grateful for my friends crowding the moron away from me.
Thanks everyone, for the intelligent, funny, sensible approaches to the situation (not one of them “didn’t make sense”)
No offense to anyone who responded here, but I have to throw some special “up-top” to Projammer. This one made me chuckle out loud.
she can take care of herself.
I have been to plenty of bars w/o security. Perhaps you should get around more.
Uh, I’ll dispute that.
Kill everyone in the bar with a fireaxe and then burn the whole place to the ground.
Many bouncers/security guards in pubs - not so much nightclubs because of the lighting issues, but often pubs - will try to keep an eye on the female clientele and if a woman gives an overt signal of any kind, try to move on the ahem “Gentleman” who’s bothering her.
No pub wants to get the reputation that they’re a place that you’re going to get cornered/groped by boozy assholes, whereas if they give the impression that the bouncer keeps an eye on women and steps in when they need a hand, women are going to feel “safe” and keep going there, and encourage their friends to go there.
That’s what I’d do.
I’m not a fighter, but I’m not hopeless at it if the situation arises, and I’m six feet tall and not slender; I suspect there are more guys I’m bigger than versus bigger than I am. So that influences my answer somewhat. If I were 5’5" and scrawny I might walk away. And, y’know, find a different bar next time.
But I’m also with Leaffansomewhat: are they talking like people, or is someone aggressively hitting on her while she’s trying her damnedest to be resolutely uninterested?
This has happened to us before, but it did not end with beer bottles being smashed anywhere - my boyfriend just shot the other guy a look of disbelief, and he immediately backed off. It’s a shame, really, smashing beer bottles is so much more exciting.
The opposite has also happened, but I’ve never been able to catch the girl in the act; otherwise I would have had to cut the bitch.
(Joking, for the humor impaired.)
What? Man talking to*** your woman***? Beer bottle to the face, then Chuck Norris kick him in the gut, then make him bite the pavement like in American History X, then gun down everyone else in the bar and torch the place and put the fire out with your piss.
And then you slap your woman around (rod no thicker than your thumb, you’re not abusive!) to teach her not to speak to other men. And then you chain her to the kitchen sink so she can make you a sammich. And no sammiches for any other men.
That should take care of it.
True story. Many years ago I’m in a bar in Jiyugaoka (Tokyo) with a couple of friends waiting to see a band. I’m at the bar getting a drink. The place is crowded, the bar is rather under-staffed, so it’s taking a while. A very cute girl, obviously (quite) a bit younger than me but hey, she’s cute, is right behind me in line. Appears to be alone. Trying to get the bartender’s attention is hit-or-miss at best, so when I finally do get his attention and he’s coming over, I decide this is a nice ice-breaker and ask the girl what she’s ordering and I’ll order at the same time. She thanks me and wants to order two drinks. Hmm, OK, must be here with someone else. Oh well - no harm no foul.
While we’re waiting for the drinks she asks me if I’m here for the band. I say yes, my buddy’s the drummer blah blah blah. Our drinks come, I pay, she gives me money for her drinks, I take it and give her back her change, and we go our separate ways…
…except that literally as I’m starting to walk back to my buddies, an American guy comes up, grabs her by the arm and yanks her close to him, and goes to me, ‘what do you think you’re doing, she’s with me’. He literally looks like a Neanderthal ready to grab her by the hair and pull her along behind him. I give an amused smile and am like, man, chill out, I’m going back to my friends over there if you’d step aside. He’s getting all macho, puffing out his little chest and acting all defensive like he needs to defend his girlfriend’s honor or something. It’s hilarious.
She obviously doesn’t like the arm grabbing and is trying to unlock her arm from his vicegrip as I walk back to my friends.
Fast-forward 30 minutes. We’re jamming out to the band when I feel a tug on my arm - cute girl is there, alone, with a smile on her face and two beers in hand - she gives me one, does the universal sign for ‘cheers!’, and starts dancing. Out of the corner of my eye I see Macho Man alone in the corner sucking on a beer, looking like someone just ran over and shot his dog. Could just be a lover’s quarrel and she’s trying to make him jealous, but hey, I’m not going to turn down a chance to do some dirty dancin’ with a PYT wearing all next to nothing. After about 20 minutes she’s now firmly a member of our little group. At one point Macho Man tries to come over, at which point she grabs me around the waist and says to him, ‘I’m with him - go away’. He slinks off. We spend the rest of the night dancing and engaging in other nocturnal activities.
Ended up dating for about a year…
No, this is still bothering me.
There are two possibilities:
-
The man is being inappropriate. Your gf has already [told him to sod off/shoved him/kneed him in the balls/called security/had him arrested]. In this case you do nothing.
-
The guy is chatting to her, wondering if she is single, she is thinking how she can make the situation clear. You show up, politely join in the conversation thereby making the situation clear. He either is not interested in pursuing the conversation anymore, or you have a cool conversation with a stranger.
The only way you could possibly be expected to intervene is if the situation somehow got out of hand. You know, just like when one of your guy friends needs some back up. Same thing.
I think my preferred reaction would be:
‘Hey honey, you ok, or do you want another drink?’
Not Mr Macho pushy, but still gives a pretty clear ‘we are together’ to the other guy, without being confrontational. Plus, hey! Another drink! 
Smoothest reaction I’ve personally had was when backpacking in Australia, a drunk, large local was getting right in my face while I was on the dancefloor in this crappy bar, and another backpacker guy just danced over, put his hand on my shoulder, and spun between me and the drunk guy then smiled cheerfully over his shoulder and shrugged at the drunk. Drunk guy walked off the dancefloor, guy from hostel grinned at me and danced happily away. Awkward situation defused in about 5 seconds.
Sure, I could have handled it myself, but not without getting kind of confrontational. With the handy intervention, I didn’t even have to stop dancing. He wasn’t my boyfriend, he was actually dating one of my friends- he’d just seen my expression.