Are you puzzled as to why men shout out of car windows at women?

Shouting at women from a passing car is usually done by young males.

Men who shout at women from passing cars are actually engaging in a form of street harassment commonly known as Cat Calling.

From a psychological viewpoint this behaviour is not about attraction, instead it’s driven by a subconscious power dynamic around social conditioning and deep cognitive biases.

Although anyone can shout out of the window at others, it’s a need in young males, either to insult and abuse other males or to cat call females.

A psychological breakdown of why this happens!

Firstly, power and control are playing a big part here and brings into play dominance, because shouting asserts dominance in and over public spaces.

Next, we have control because it forces the female to react giving the harasser a fleeting sense of control. And remember it’s a very fast feeling that the person experiences when they do it.

Vulnerability, the moving car creates an immediate power imbalance between the harasser and the pedestrian.

Next, we have the shield of anonymity!

Deindividualisation in this scenario means being inside a moving car, creates the psychological sense of zero accountability and the driver or the occupants of the car feel immune to social consequences or especially the possible confrontation that could follow from the person being abused.

We have a hit and run mentality which means the speed of the car absolutely ensures they can escape before facing a reaction or even being seen, where they leave the person that they shouted at, with the insult or the effect of it. We have peer approval and status which is performative masculinity in front of others, whereby this behaviour most often happens when driving with others in the car and very rarely when a male is on his own. A male audience is often in the presence of harasser.

Next, we have bonding and status as the bonding serves as a toxic tool for male bonding and seeking approval from their peers or in other words their audience. The status part means the male shouting out of the window uses the passing female as a prop to prove his boldness and possibly his courage to his audience, his loyal applauding friends all laugh in approval – because he’s, their man!

Educational Disclaimer: This article discusses sensitive educational concepts and training topics. It is provided by Open College UK Limited for informational purposes only and does not replace professional or psychological advice.

Cognitive Distortions

Entitlement: Men hold a view or belief that females in public owe them some sort of attention or response to their presence.

Displacement: Some frustrated individuals sometimes target a random passing female to vent unrelated anger or inadequacy at, and in most cases it’s inadequacy.

Misjudged intent: In some rarer highly distorted scenarios, the cat caller genuinely believes and convinces himself that the aggression in the actual vocal delivery is some form of twisted compliment.

Testosterone!

Higher levels of testosterone are also playing a part and usually accompany the roar of an engine and the suddenness of some smoking and screeching tyres along with blaring music and an overly confident voice shouting through an open passing window.

It would be fair to say that nearly every female knows that immediate and visceral jolt of adrenaline that follows inside them as they walk on feeling intimidated, abused and disrespected but that effect doesn’t enter the harassers thoughts because he’s just discharged something that makes him feel better, so let’s not spoil it for him. He did it to feel something which was the buzz, you could call it a brief momentary excitement rush!

For decades, society has minimised passing car abuse as a nuisance or a clumsy attempt at a compliment or insult. But from a psychological viewpoint, this behaviour is not harmless. It’s a briefly calculated act of hostility and abuse that leaves a deep emotional effect on the female who just received it.

What would that young man do if someone shouted insults, sexual comments or verbal abuse at their sister, their mother or girlfriend and wife? There would be a drama wouldn’t there? They would be angry making all sorts of claims of doing such and such to the said harasser, because they wouldn’t be able to tolerate it! To understand this phenomenon, we must move beyond the passing moving metal and examine both the trauma effect inflicted on the victim and the disordered psychology of the perpetrator.

The Immediate Trauma: A Violation of Space

For the victim, the psychological effect and impact of being yelled at from a passing car starts with a sudden and immediate shock to their nervous system. Their brain instantly enters a fight or flight state because the verbal attack is an auditory and unexpected clout into the victim’s personal boundary or perceived space before they even register what just happened. This potentially triggers a cascade of negative psychological and internal responses such as hypervigilance, humiliation, intimidation, helplessness, and feelings of vulnerability and threat.

And the young male that did this, hasn’t got a clue that they have just left that woman distressed and now constantly scanning their environment for the next unpredictable shout of abuse or being objectified in a public space and making that person feel exposed to harm along with feelings of helplessness due to the speed of the vehicle making off eliminating any confrontational possibility thereby trapping the victim in a state of unresolved frustration.

Over time these micro traumas accumulate and build up called stacking and a female who is repeatedly targeted begins to alter their daily life and may change their walking routine and modify their clothing or avoid going out. This shrinks their world and erodes their sense of autonomy and freedom to safely walk in public as it sends a pervasive and damaging message to their subconscious mind that public spaces do not feel safe.

The Mechanics of the Mobile Mask

Why do men really engage in this behaviour?

The answer is within the unique environment of the car. The car acts as a physical and psychological barrier or shield and creates a phenomenon known as deindividualization.

Inside the car the man loses his individual identity momentarily and a sense of personal accountability or consequences. The car offers total anonymity and is an easy route to escape the scene. This creates a hit and run mentality and the harasser can throw verbal aggression, insults, abuse or sexual comments and flee before facing any social consequence, retaliation or accountability or even direct confrontation from the victim.

Shouting out from car windows at a walking woman, the driver forces her to react, whether she flinches, freezes, looks away, that forced reaction gives the harasser a brief drug like rush of control and excitement. According to psychology the chances are that this type of man lives with and experiences feelings of inadequacy and powerlessness in his own life thereby targeting a vulnerable stranger is a quick way to artificially and temporarily boost their own ego.

The psychological dynamics alters considerably when there are multiple men in the car and in these scenarios the cat calling becomes a form of performative and demonstrative masculinity in front of his audience and the woman on the pavement is no longer just the target, she has now become unknowing used for the male bonding inside of the car.

The harasser is shouting to prove his boldness, his courage and dominance along with this, he seeks the laughter, validation and approval of the passengers inside the vehicle. The potential distress within the passing female is completely ignored and replaced entirely by the desire for social status within car group.

Car-based harassment

Passing car-based harassment is a structure used to reinforce gender inequality and control women through fear. By opening the curtain on the psychology behind it, this exposes them for what is really going on. What psychology can say with some confidence is that males who engage in this kind of dodgy behaviour are often seeking something psychologically: attention, peer approval, a feeling of power, excitement, status or emotional release. This behaviour suggests some form of unmet need and insecurity because genuinely confident men rarely need to create distress in females to feel good about themselves.

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