# Why are girl fights more vicious? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 22, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-girl-fights-more-vicious/322943 "2005-09-22T20:32:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-girl-fights-more-vicious/322943/41 "2005-09-23T16:36:12Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Gals are all about offense, punch-scratch-pull-bite anyway you can, and expend all your energy in round 1, don’t even bother with defense, just go nuts! Like a mid-eighties Mike Tyson. This post reminded me of Mr. Tyson’s upcoming porno role, which did not make for a good mental image. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-girl-fights-more-vicious/322943/42 "2005-09-23T16:43:39Z")
What you’re thinking of as guy-fighting is generally bludgeoning, trying to defeat your opponent by literally pounding on him. You’re looking to “win” the fight. Not a lot of subtlety, but most nations of the world have some sort of martial art that takes advantage of this. People tend to survive these fights pretty well, and can usually continue living productive lives afterwards. What you’re thinking of as girl-fighting involves wanting to find a weakness in the opponent’s defenses, reach in, and rip something loose. You’re not looking to win, you’re looking to _kill._ You don’t find too many dojos teaching this style of fighting for a couple reasons… actually, just one reason: it’s really hard to teach this to people without losing students. I have been in classes where this style is taught and, believe me, it’s not something you practice three times a week unless you’re prepared to walk with a limp for the rest of your life, or risk losing an eye… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-girl-fights-more-vicious/322943/43 "2005-09-23T16:55:29Z")
> [@Der Trihs](#): > > 2 : Women are not taught to _control_ violent impulses, but to suppress them completely. When they lose it, they lose it all the way; they’ve never learned to moderate themselves. Hear, hear! I’ve been in two physical confrontations in my life, and both were characterized by taking on someone I reasonably shouldn’t, and by the complete forfeit of human reason to animal instinct. I really had no concious thoughts at all during either (admittedly brief) fight. During the first, in high school, I was literally in a blind rage; I was watching a football player move threateningly towards my boyfriend, and then I was between them and pushing them apart, and until they backed off and the situation diffused, parts of my vision were blurry or blacked out. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-girl-fights-more-vicious/322943/44 "2005-09-23T17:20:37Z")
Well I’ve only seen one real girl fight. It was two ladies of questionable employment near the Port Authority Bus Terminal in NYC. Now either one of them was already stunned or she was really stoned, but the victor was pretty vicious about hitting her while she was down. Oh and it wasn’t sexy at all. I’m a guy and I’ve been in a few fights. The most serious ones were conflicts that burned for weeks and weeks before exploding into violence. My freshmen year of HS I was being bullied by this punk and I finally hauled off and decked him. I jumped on him and pounded his face till I was pulled off. I was taught to not be violent and to solve problems through negotiations or to ‘just ignore them’. This seemed to get the job done. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-girl-fights-more-vicious/322943/45 "2005-09-23T18:18:11Z")
In my high school, there was the usual amount of bullying and whatnot in the guy’s locker room, but not usually aimed at me. Mostly of the wedgie and trashcan variety. The seniors (I was a freshman) tried to give me a wedgie exactly once. I impressed my self with my ability to remain calm when this happened. As soon as they surrounded me, I grabbed the closest senior by the neck and started probing for his Adam’s apple with my thumbs. They let me go real quick and for some reason didn’t bother me again. ---
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-girl-fights-more-vicious/322943/46 "2005-09-23T23:32:52Z")
> [@Dark Side of the Floyd](#): > > Ripping out weaves. 😛 > > Around my neighborhood, you can always tell if girls have had a fight, because you see weaves on the ground. Or, in an exciting episode of my freshman year, _setting the other girl’s weave on fire_. And pushing her into a bulletin board. Which caught fire. Setting off the fire alarm. Whee! Day off from drama class! ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-girl-fights-more-vicious/322943/47 "2005-09-24T00:16:38Z")
> [@DaphneBlack](#): > > Day off from drama class! I think they earned their drama for that day. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-girl-fights-more-vicious/322943/48 "2005-09-24T00:19:54Z")
Apart from the fight I mentioned in the other thread, most ‘fights’ I’ve gotten into have been over pretty quick. Usually because in chickfights, I’m the taller and heavier one, and I tend to head straight for the throat and/or use any and all available solid surfaces to crush whoever against. Most altercations I got into came to a halt when I body-checked whichever bitch it was into a solid brick wall. ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-girl-fights-more-vicious/322943/49 "2005-09-24T03:03:18Z")
I was reading the letters section of some magazine and this woman wrote in _offended_ because some article had referred to a girl-fight as a “catfight.” Her reasons? Because it was degrading to women to be compared to cute, cuddly, _soft_ creatures, when they were angry. My first thought was, “This stupid bitch has apparently never seen a _real_ cat fight. All that spitting, clawing, biting, and tearing is hardly cute, cuddly, or soft!” ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-girl-fights-more-vicious/322943/50 "2005-09-24T05:41:45Z")
At the personal level, if it is not worth killin over, it is not worth fighting over. If it is worth killin over, do it from behind and with a gun. YMMV ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-girl-fights-more-vicious/322943/51 "2005-09-24T07:08:51Z")
> [@CynicalGabe](#): > > In my high school, there was the usual amount of bullying and whatnot in the guy’s locker room, but not usually aimed at me. Mostly of the wedgie and trashcan variety. > > The seniors (I was a freshman) tried to give me a wedgie exactly once. I impressed my self with my ability to remain calm when this happened. As soon as they surrounded me, I grabbed the closest senior by the neck and started probing for his Adam’s apple with my thumbs. > > They let me go real quick and for some reason didn’t bother me again. The senior “dominance” culture was so prevalent in my High School things would have ended rather badly for you if that had happened in my High School. From all that I’ve seen and heard locker rooms were a lot more vicious in my day than they are now. Once during football practice the quarterback, who was a junior, flicked a towel at one of the senior linebackers. The linebacker’s response was beating the QB until he was bloody and crying on the floor. No one did a thing to stop him because hey, it was a junior who had messed with a senior, and inside the social atmosphere of the locker room it’s understood a junior never messes with a senior unless you want severe repercussions. In some schools “standing up” for yourself as a freshman like Gabe did would earn you respect. In my school about 6-7 guys would have beat the caste system into him (over several different school days if said freshman required extra teaching.) ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-girl-fights-more-vicious/322943/52 "2005-09-24T21:57:05Z")
A couple of hypotheticals: a) Women fight dirty because they’re not equipped to fight clean. A woman knows she hasn’t the stopping power with a punch and so cuts straight to the gouging, raking, hair-ripping etc. b) Women are brought up to believe that (i) no-one is allowed to hit them and (ii) they themselves can hit without repercussion. So as soon as one woman hits another and she hits back, both are enraged because their basic human rights are being violated… whereas, when a man gets thumped, deep down he’s always known it could happen to him. Or something. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-girl-fights-more-vicious/322943.md?page=2)