# Women (over)react to catcalling **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 20, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120 "2009-08-20T20:36:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Crawlspace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Crawlspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crawlspace)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/21 "2009-08-21T00:26:54Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Seriously, of one these days I am going to beat one of these assholes to near, if not certain, death. Good luck in prison. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/22 "2009-08-21T00:39:39Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > Women overreact to a lot of things. This. One of the best things about being a man? One mood, all the time! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Other\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Other\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Other_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/23 "2009-08-21T00:52:23Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > Women overreact to a lot of things. Correction, _people overreact to situations sometimes._ > [@](#): > > This. > > One of the best things about being a man? > > One mood, all the time Another correction, “_I_, speaking only for myself, am emotionally monotone.” Intentionally, ~S.P.I.~ ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/24 "2009-08-21T00:54:21Z")
Reacting to violence to something people say is an overreaction. This reminds me of the men who beat a gay man to death who makes a pass at them, and then claim the “gay panic” defense. ---
**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/25 "2009-08-21T02:01:55Z")
Remain clam, people. When you’re out in public, _people are allowed to talk to you_. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/26 "2009-08-21T02:04:23Z")
> [@Baffle](#): > > Remain **clam** [added], people. When you’re out in public, _people are allowed to talk to you_. Well, which is it, are people supposed to clam up or talk? ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/27 "2009-08-21T02:05:52Z")
> [@Other\_Dreams](#): > > Correction, _people overreact to situations sometimes._ Don’t correct me. ---
**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/28 "2009-08-21T02:09:05Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Well, which is it, are people supposed to clam up or talk? “Remain clam” is (or at least used to be) on the front page of [engrishfunny.com](http://engrishfunny.com), one of the sites related to [everybody’s favourite meme.](http://icanhascheezburger.com/) I frequently shout it authoritatively whenever people nearby are being ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/29 "2009-08-21T02:17:36Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > I would gladly beat to death the next asshole who catcalls me. Can I bitch-slap the next ho who be frontin’? Because it sounds like bitched be running wild up in here. ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/30 "2009-08-21T02:37:10Z")
Too bad they got the wrong guy. Otherwise, good on them. We need an anti-testonsterone drug placed in the water supply. _half seriously_ ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/31 "2009-08-21T02:42:46Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > Don’t correct me. :D:D:D ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/32 "2009-08-21T02:44:06Z")
> [@Tabby\_Cat](#): > > We need an anti-testonsterone drug placed in the water supply. _half seriously_ And yet, completely insulting. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/33 "2009-08-21T02:47:48Z")
> [@athelas](#): > > People often have the same reaction to telemarketers as well, hoping they die painfully etc. I regard these violent threats with the same level of seriousness, and if anyone takes this “medal” talk seriously I would consider them as crazy as someone who seriously advocates shooting up a call center. Yeah. I mean I don’t mind the telemarketer ones. These ones kind of remind me of the “I hope this rapist is thrown into prison and SODOMIZED!!!” I get that they’re not serious but they make me kind of uncomfortable all the same… ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/34 "2009-08-21T02:47:54Z")
> [@Tabby\_Cat](#): > > Too bad they got the wrong guy. Otherwise, good on them. > We need an anti-testonsterone drug placed in the water supply. _half seriously_ Considering that it was the women who attacked, perhaps an anti-estrogen drug as well. Then we can all be neuter together. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/35 "2009-08-21T03:58:33Z")
> [@Baffle](#): > > “Remain clam” is (or at least used to be) on the front page of [engrishfunny.com](http://engrishfunny.com), one of the sites related to [everybody’s favourite meme.](http://icanhascheezburger.com/) I frequently shout it authoritatively whenever people nearby are being ridiculous. It has a certain Freudian quality in this context, too. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/36 "2009-08-21T05:42:16Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Yeah. I mean I don’t mind the telemarketer ones. These ones kind of remind me of the “I hope this rapist is thrown into prison and SODOMIZED!!!” I get that they’re not serious but they make me kind of uncomfortable all the same… Phew, I was beginning to think I was the only one here who didn’t want to draw and quarter kids who steal candy bars (and other assorted crimes). ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/37 "2009-08-21T06:36:26Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I wish I could have come up with something that creative, but then, I was only a teenager. Mostly it was stuff like, if a guy would ask us to suck his dick, our reply would be, “Not even if you HAD one!!!” The response I saw at a high school this spring, by an openly gay student being harassed by a jerk with the same “suck my dick” offer: _“I don’t do miniatures.”_ (And he managed to get 5 syllables into the word ‘miniatures’.) It was all around the school by the end of the day. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/38 "2009-08-21T06:48:01Z")
> [@Obsidian](#): > > If someone wants to holler a compliment at me, I don’t mind. But that’s never how it goes. Because half the time if you don’t respond to them (or respond negatively), it quickly becomes and angry, “Bitch! You too good to say hi to me?” Sometimes, they’ll even follow you a little like angry panhandlers, calling you a bitch (or a fat bitch, even if you’re not fat) and demanding you say hello (or thank you). The nearly instantaneous way it became threatening was very scary. > > This didn’t happen frequently, but it happened enough I thought about carrying mace. If I had I almost certainly would have maced the next one who so much as looked at me funny (which is why I didn’t carry mace, my luck it would be some harmless moron). > > Then I moved to California, gained 20 pounds, and live in an area where groups of men don’t loiter around on street corners looking for trouble. So it stopped. I think that the attitude is what makes it so aggravating. You can’t just ignore the catcalls, you have to watch the guys to see if they’re gonna flip out and take it from verbal to physical. There’s a big difference between a catcall and a compliment. BIG difference. A catcall is always at least a little bit derogatory and threatening. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/39 "2009-08-21T07:22:28Z")
I’ve never understood the allure of catcalling. Has it ever ever worked? I mean, has some guys yelled out “hey baby you got some fries to go with that shake?” and the woman ravished them as if they were in an Axe commercial? No. No it’s never happened ever. Nonetheless, beating the catcaller is still out of line, even if they’d gotten the right guy. **MeanOldLady** , your nick is quite appropriate. You only get catcalled because they haven’t heard you speak yet. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/40 "2009-08-21T07:26:03Z")
**EvilTOJ** I don’t think the purpose of catcalling is to attract a mate, I think it is to exert power over random women. If you look at the kind of guys who do it, they generally don’t look like they have control over a lot of factors in their lives, by intimidating/controlling a random woman, they’re empowering themselves a tiny little bit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120.md?page=3)