Is catcalling actually awesome?

[Akka]

The brute squad is still real, but never before has being female, small, or past your prime mattered so little.

True.

Pepper spray, tasers, handguns, a willingness to use them, and some practice are powerful. Probably more powerful than exercise and an 18 year old man's body. Trayvon Martin kicked George Zimmerman's ass. Cops are not always super in shape.

Completely false.

It's true that physical strength counts now less than ever. But it's due to having a society based on law and low level of crime. Weapons have absolutely nothing to do with it, and their role about it is between nothing and nil.
Also, weaponized deterrence has about zero effect about feeling unsafe (and in fact little effect in actual safety).

I'm not convinced by the whole concept of feeling unsafe because of leering being illusory. Stat are one thing, the physical presence of people who puts you at unease is a pretty different thing.

 

[Farm Boy]

Now there, I did not say other people being male didn't make me feel both more unsafe and actually less safe. Their being male does. My being male ?perhaps? (never having tried the alternative) makes me feel more safe, but definitely makes me less safe in public.

I'm not sure what, exactly, you're disagreeing with as completely false. The weapons used absolutely impact the picture of violence, the people I know who bothered to get their concealed carry trainings done sometimes have kept up with their actual carrying. So I'd guess it makes some of them feel safer, and others not enough to bother with it. The bat in my bedroom, given how heavily I sleep is probably about 0% effective at making my household safer from an intruder. But my wife seems to appreciate that at least there is a show of attempting to care, so I leave it up there.