# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/121 "2009-08-21T16:59:54Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > OK, **MeanOldLady** , I’m starting to see where you’re coming from. If that’s indeed your experience, I can’t blame you a bit for getting really annoyed with it. I take back anything bad I said to you earlier. The behavior you describe is indeed reprehensible. > > So why do you get this more than other women? Could be any number of reasons, but I’d bet it’s something specific about your look or the way you carry yourself. Maybe you project a particular type of sexual energy or something. That’s not to say that you’re to blame, of course. There’s probably just some subtle little thing that you’re not aware of. I have no idea why this happens to me, and I always assumed it happened to other women as well. It certainly happens to my friends and my sisters, and it pisses them off too. You want to know what I was wearing this morning when the douches at CVS decided to heckle me for half a block? A pink hoodie, blue jeans and Saucony Jazz sneakers! What is so titillating about that? I don’t walk around in mini skirts and thigh-high boots. I don’t have the ladies prominently displayed for America’s viewing pleasure. Under the hoodie, I was wearing a plain black tee shirt with what I think is a reasonable neckline. I don’t think my physical appearance has anything to do with it. I happen to like the way I look, but that’s irrelevant. Like a lot of people have said, it’s the douchebags, and not me. I’m sure they did it to the next girl they saw too. > [@Monstera\_deliciosa](#): > > So you think [Emmett Till](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till) deserved his fate? > > Nice. Oh god… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/122 "2009-08-21T17:05:22Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > If you say so. The way I hear the language used day to day, women think feminist means “loony bitch” because people have been telling them that for a couple of decades. I admit feminism is one of those words that seems to mean whatever the speaker wants it to mean at this point. Ok, moving on then. > [@](#): > > That’s very often true, but it’s also an oversimplification, and you topped it off by blaming the victim. There are people standing up for women’s rights in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Somalia and other places. That they haven’t been successful in eliminating some terrible practices by a patriarchal culture is not their fault and does not mean they are “responsible” for their own oppression. What happens is that a practice is brought into existence and in these cases, women are brought up with it, accept that it’s the natural order of things, and become responsible for enforcing it. The term, “Blaming the Victim”, doesn’t sway me as I think it’s just a copout. An emotional way to sway the argument, most of the time. I don’t think those in Afghanistan who are working for women’s rights are at fault. I think the women who are raising their children to believe that this treatment is correct are the ones who are at fault. In these patriarchal situations the female perpetrators too often get a pass. Sure we can blow them off as being ignorant, but we could do the same for the male perpetrators, thing is, we don’t. We ignore the complicity of women in their own subjugation. I am not even talking about those who are afraid to fight, I am talking about those who will fight tooth and nail to uphold the status quo. > [@](#): > > Maybe so. But they’re capable of delaying and stonewalling for a long fucking time. For example the Seneca Falls Convention was in 1848, Wyoming gave women the vote in 1869 (and became a state in 1890), and the 19th Amendment was passed in 1920. And that’s in a country where the law doesn’t allow you to ditch or stone your woman to death for mouthing off or cheating. 72 years is not a long fucking time when it comes to changing long held tradition. In my opinion 72 years is lightning quick for such monumental cultural changes. > [@](#): > > And what about the men who love their wives but just think women aren’t as intelligent and aren’t capable of making their own decisions? I’m sorry, but there are plenty of people like that HERE, let alone in Afghanistan, so I think you’re taking too rosy a viewpoint about this. There are plenty of people here just on this message board who despite being total misanthropes think they are more qualified to make people’s decisions too. What’s your point? I’m thinking Machiavelli here, you cannot occupy an uncooperative populace. It’s that simple. > [@](#): > > True, and the women who are involved are enforcing their own position in society, I agree. Glad you agree with the core point I am making. > [@](#): > > You keep telling yourself that. Meanwhile I’ll just go on oppressing women by not blaming them when they get oppressed. Hey, you’re the one who considers them to be the weaker sex, not me. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/123 "2009-08-21T17:09:28Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > I don’t think my physical appearance has anything to do with it. Oh it’s definitely the douchebags and not you. Of course. I’m just suggesting that you might be projecting some type of energy that invites the douchebaggery. But if it happens to other women around you, it may be something else. Does it happen to you more in some neighborhoods than in others? ---
**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, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/124 "2009-08-21T17:11:37Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Oh god… :rolleyes: Susan Brownmiller did say in her book Against Our Will that she did think that what Emmett Till did was, at that time, a form of sexual harassment. [http://battlinbog.blog-city.com/emmett\_till\_despised\_by\_radical\_feminist.htm](http://battlinbog.blog-city.com/emmett_till_despised_by_radical_feminist.htm) > [@](#): > > Rarely has one single case exposed so clearly as Till’s the underlying group-male antagonisms over access to women, for what began in Bryant’s store should not be misconstrued as an innocent flirtation. Till’s action was more than a kid’s brash prank and his murder was more than a husband’s revenge. The scene that was acted out in Money, Mississippi, had all the elements of a classical Greek drama. Emmett Till was going to show his black buddies that he, and inference, they, could get a white woman and Carolyn Bryant was the nearest convenient object. In concrete terms, the accessibility of all white women was on review. This is how it must have been perceived by Till’s companions, who set him up with some degree of cruelty and then, sensing that things had gone too far, called him off. And we know this is how it was perceived by Millam and Bryant. “Hell,” Millam told William Bradford Huie when he recalled the night of the murder. “He showed me the white gal’s picture. Bragged o’ what he’d done to her! What else could I do? No use letting him get no bigger!” > > And what of the wolf whistle, Till’s “gesture of adolescent bravado”? We are rightly aghast that a whistle could be cause for murder but we must also accept that Emmett Till and J. W. Millam shared something in common. They both understood that the whistle was no small tweet of hubba-hubba or melodious approval for a well-turned ankle. Given the deteriorated situation – she with a pistol in her hand, he scampering back to safety with his buddies – it was a deliberate insult just short of physical assault, a last reminder to Carolyn Bryant that this black boy, Till, had in mind to possess her. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/125 "2009-08-21T17:14:55Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Or maybe you are just totally f\*\*\*ing hot. > \*Please don’t kill me. Heh, you know, this doesn’t upset me, but it does remind me of something a (male) friend said to me. He told me to mangle my face and chop off the twins, then see if it continued. It would. It most certainly would. It’s not about physical attractiveness. But let’s say it were, and this only happened to pretty people, whilst the Plain Janes and even less fortunate in the looks department were allowed to live their lives in peace. Is this type of behavior acceptable then? I’m not going to sit here and throw a pity party for the beautiful people, but bullying and harassing women in public just because you find them pretty is still mightily fucked up. ---
**Author:** ![satoridt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@satoridt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/satoridt)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/126 "2009-08-21T17:16:16Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Several places, currently Minneapolis, MN. No stripper poles as of yet. But in this economy, people are going to great lengths to make ends meet. Updates forthcoming. > > Err, MrSmith, the reason it irritates the shit out of me is because it happens all the time. I don’t understand why people don’t find it acceptable that a female over the age of 14 is allowed to walk outside unbothered. I really wish these people would shut their traps and just let me go to work in peace. And it has nothing to do with me. No woman should have to be harassed this way when she’s attempting to buy groceries. Enough already. Learn how to approach women like an adult, or shut the fuck up. Do not SCREAM at people, or follow them for blocks. It’s scary and it’s wrong. I think you’re crazy. I’ve lived in Minneapolis for 8 years. The kind of behavior you’re describing is so rare as to be nonexistent. You might occasionally be catcalled downtown on a Friday night at 2 in the morning, but at the grocery store? On your way to work? I think you are probably just jumping at shadows or just plain making things up. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/127 "2009-08-21T17:18:03Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Heh, you know, this doesn’t upset me, but it does remind me of something a (male) friend said to me. He told me to mangle my face and chop off the twins, then see if it continued. It would. It most certainly would. It’s not about physical attractiveness. But let’s say it were, and this only happened to pretty people, whilst the Plain Janes and even less fortunate in the looks department were allowed to live their lives in peace. Is this type of behavior acceptable then? I’m not going to sit here and throw a pity party for the beautiful people, but bullying and harassing women in public just because you find them pretty is still mightily fucked up. I don’t think plain Jane’s get this treatment. Sure if you were mangled and disfigured you might still get catcalls. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/128 "2009-08-21T17:23:55Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Oh it’s definitely the douchebags and not you. Of course. I’m just suggesting that you might be projecting some type of energy that invites the douchebaggery. But if it happens to other women around you, it may be something else. > > Does it happen to you more in some neighborhoods than in others? I don’t know, maybe I’m exuding raw sexual energy. Maybe someone taped a “Please come fuck me” sign on my back. I don’t think this is the case though. It does happen more in some neighborhoods than others. In crappier neighborhoods, it occurs with a mind-boggling frequency. But still, this happened in even Palo Fucking Alto. Not East Palo Alto. The one with the rich people. > [@satoridt](#): > > I think you’re crazy. I’ve lived in Minneapolis for 8 years. The kind of behavior you’re describing is so rare as to be nonexistent. You might occasionally be catcalled downtown on a Friday night at 2 in the morning, but at the grocery store? On your way to work? I think you are probably just jumping at shadows or just plain making things up. I live and work in downtown Minneapolis, and it doesn’t just happen at 2am. Why on Earth would I make this up? It happened to me this morning. As in today, August 21, 2009 at 8:00am on the corner of Portland and 10th. Two guys were standing outside and they started screaming “Hey girl” at me repeatedly. They followed me to nearly the end of the block, and asked me if I thought I were too good for them, heckled me and the like, and I continued to ignore them until it pissed me off enough for me to tell them to shut the fuck up. This happened. Today. What also happened is they lectured me about having an attitude, even though they were the ones who yelled at me from across the street and followed me for almost a block. This happened. Today. It happens all the time. It happened in Los Angeles, it happened in San Francisco, it happened in Philadelphia, and it is happening here. Don’t tell me I’m making shit up because it doesn’t happen to you. ---
**Author:** ![satoridt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@satoridt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/satoridt)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/129 "2009-08-21T17:30:56Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > I don’t know, maybe I’m exuding raw sexual energy. Maybe someone taped a “Please come fuck me” sign on my back. I don’t think this is the case though. > > It does happen more in some neighborhoods than others. In crappier neighborhoods, it occurs with a mind-boggling frequency. But still, this happened in even Palo Fucking Alto. Not East Palo Alto. The one with the rich people. > > I live and work in downtown Minneapolis, and it doesn’t just happen at 2am. Why on Earth would I make this up? It happened to me this morning. As in today, August 21, 2009 at 8:00am on the corner of Portland and 10th. Two guys were standing outside and they started screaming “Hey girl” at me repeatedly. They followed me to nearly the end of the block, and asked me if I thought I were too good for them, heckled me and the like, and I continued to ignore them until it pissed me off enough for me to tell them to shut the fuck up. This happened. Today. What also happened is they lectured me about having an attitude, even though they were the ones who yelled at me from across the street and followed me for almost a block. This happened. Today. It happens all the time. It happened in Los Angeles, it happened in San Francisco, it happened in Philadelphia, and it is happening here. > > Don’t tell me I’m making shit up because it doesn’t happen to you. OK. You are getting heckled repeatedly. At 8 am. In the grocery store. At the pharmacy. All the time. I am friends with some very attractive women. Doesn’t happen to them. They are friends with some other attractive women. Nope, not like you describe. I am downtown during the day quite often. I have never witnessed anything like this. Either you are an extremely special case, or you are exaggerating a great deal. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/130 "2009-08-21T17:33:42Z")
> [@satoridt](#): > > OK. You are getting heckled repeatedly. At 8 am. In the grocery store. At the pharmacy. All the time. I am friends with some very attractive women. Doesn’t happen to them. They are friends with some other attractive women. Nope, not like you describe. I am downtown during the day quite often. I have never witnessed anything like this. Either you are an extremely special case, or you are exaggerating a great deal. Do any of your friends have a ‘Please come fuck me’ sign on their back? I mean that’s hot, especially since she’s asking for it, nicely. I don’t know what it is but some people just attract harassment more than others. My ex-wife was one of those. She must’ve had a ‘Come fuck me’ sign too, but she was Israeli so I doubt there was a please in it. But it’s not just that, when I lived in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn some people just stopped coming to my house because they were afraid of the neighborhood. Myself, my wife, we never got harassed. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/131 "2009-08-21T17:35:50Z")
> [@satoridt](#): > > OK. You are getting heckled repeatedly. At 8 am. In the grocery store. At the pharmacy. All the time. I am friends with some very attractive women. Doesn’t happen to them. They are friends with some other attractive women. Nope, not like you describe. I am downtown during the day quite often. I have never witnessed anything like this. Either you are an extremely special case, or you are exaggerating a great deal. I didn’t say that every time I’m exposed to natural sunlight, a swarm of people come out to attack. I am saying that it happens on a regular basis to many women, and by the time a girl is, say, 19 years old, she is sick and tired of it. Enough already. It is not okay to harass women this way. You know this group of women out in Plymouth somewhere who this never happens to, and good for them, they are very lucky. I’m not sure how you’re so sure of how often they’re bothered in this fashion, but I’ll assume you do. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/132 "2009-08-21T17:37:41Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > It happened to me this morning. As in today, August 21, 2009 at 8:00am on the corner of Portland and 10th. Two guys were standing outside and they started screaming “Hey girl” at me repeatedly. They followed me to nearly the end of the block, and asked me if I thought I were too good for them, heckled me and the like, and I continued to ignore them until it pissed me off enough for me to tell them to shut the fuck up. This happened. Today. What also happened is they lectured me about having an attitude, even though they were the ones who yelled at me from across the street and followed me for almost a block. This happened. Today. It happens all the time. It happened in Los Angeles, it happened in San Francisco, it happened in Philadelphia, and it is happening here. Good God, that’s surreal. In another thread you mentioned you aren’t white. Do you think whatever racial group you’re in is causing it to happen more? Like, there’s some unwritten societal rule that black women or Latino women like to be hey-babied? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/133 "2009-08-21T17:39:53Z")
> [@satoridt](#): > > I have never witnessed anything like this. I have. Not very often, but every now and then. Usually not that hostile, but sometimes. And the women that are the targets of it are not always supermodels. I’m going with my theory that women that get this are inadvertantly projecting some sort of vibe. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/134 "2009-08-21T17:40:21Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Good God, that’s surreal. > > In another thread you mentioned you aren’t white. Do you think whatever racial group you’re in is causing it to happen more? Like, there’s some unwritten societal rule that black women or Latino women like to be hey-babied? Maybe a poll is in order. I’m not a woman, so I don’t know how common this is. From my observations, I can’t remember the last time I heard a cat call from a group of guys to a woman anywhere in public but, like I said, I’m not a woman. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/135 "2009-08-21T17:42:16Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > The term, “Blaming the Victim”, doesn’t sway me as I think it’s just a copout. An emotional way to sway the argument, most of the time. The term isn’t what’s important, **mswas** , what’s important is what you said, and the meaning of what you said. You were very specific in saying “Women are responsible for their own subjugation,” and by saying so, you blamed all women for their oppression. If that’s not what you think - and you go on to say that it isn’t - I’d recommend you not say that in the future, because that’s absolutely what it communicates. > [@](#): > > 72 years is not a long fucking time when it comes to changing long held tradition. In my opinion 72 years is lightning quick for such monumental cultural changes. Yes, they’ve made amazing progress here. And that means it takes longer elsewhere. And 72 years is approximately a lifetime for the average human being. And that’s only the time it took to go from the birth of the feminist movement to the right to vote, which is not the sum total of all equal rights. > [@](#): > > There are plenty of people here just on this message board who despite being total misanthropes think they are more qualified to make people’s decisions too. What’s your point? My point is that I think your statement was naive. > [@](#): > > Hey, you’re the one who considers them to be the weaker sex, not me. If you say so. (Do you think anybody’s buying this?) ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/136 "2009-08-21T17:45:40Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > The term isn’t what’s important, **mswas** , what’s important is what you said, and the meaning of what you said. You were very specific in saying “Women are responsible for their own subjugation,” and by saying so, you blamed all women for their oppression. If that’s not what you think - and you go on to say that it isn’t - I’d recommend you not say that in the future, because that’s absolutely what it communicates. Ok, how about, “Women play a significant role in the subjugation of women.”, is that better? > [@](#): > > Yes, they’ve made amazing progress here. And that means it takes longer elsewhere. And 72 years is approximately a lifetime for the average human being. And that’s only the time it took to go from the birth of the feminist movement to the right to vote, which is not the sum total of all equal rights. Yeah, it’s two generations. For sweeping culture change of 5000 years of tradition to occur in just two generations is pretty mind-bogglingly swift. > [@](#): > > My point is that I think your statement was naive. _shrugs_ I think yours is dismissive of relevant factors. > [@](#): > > If you say so. (Do you think anybody’s buying this?) I’m teasing you there buddy. 😉 Bottom line, when women stand up for their rights and there is a groundswell, they get them. The fewer there are standing for the subjugation of women to tradition and the more who stand up for equal rights the more likely they are to get those rights. What is it that you so dislike about that position? ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/137 "2009-08-21T17:46:26Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Good God, that’s surreal. > > In another thread you mentioned you aren’t white. Do you think whatever racial group you’re in is causing it to happen more? Like, there’s some unwritten societal rule that black women or Latino women like to be hey-babied? I don’t know, it’s possible. My favorite is when random white guys will tell me that they’ve never slept with a black girl before. “Oh my! How shall I remedy this? Let’s get a hotel room, where I shall allow you to fuck me silly!” > [@tdn](#): > > I’m going with my theory that women that get this are inadvertantly projecting some sort of vibe. If you can find out what vibe that is, you must let me know so that I may try desperately to correct it. I will love you forever. ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/138 "2009-08-21T17:52:16Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > I don’t think plain Jane’s get this treatment. Sure if you were mangled and disfigured you might still get catcalls. > [@satoridt](#): > > OK. You are getting heckled repeatedly. At 8 am. In the grocery store. At the pharmacy. All the time. I am friends with some very attractive women. Doesn’t happen to them. They are friends with some other attractive women. Nope, not like you describe. I am downtown during the day quite often. I have never witnessed anything like this. Either you are an extremely special case, or you are exaggerating a great deal. Unless you all have a cite to the contrary, I would guess that this kind of street harassment has little correlation to traditional attractiveness. **WAG ALERT:** Or that if it does, it actually happens more to “plain Janes.” Whether it’s about power or sex, it is still the case that a certain power dynamic is prerequisite to this kind of behavior. Bullies don’t bully someone they think will beat them up, and I would guess that sexual street harassers probably pick people who aren’t “out of their league.” ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/139 "2009-08-21T17:53:26Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > If you can find out what vibe that is, you must let me know so that I may try desperately to correct it. _ **I will love you forever.** _ This attitude might be part of the problem… ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120/140 "2009-08-21T17:55:16Z")
Oh dear! I will hate you forever? I will remain indifferent? I’m not sure what to do here… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-over-react-to-catcalling/507120.md?page=8)