for: Catfight (animal behavior) Catfight is a term for an altercation between two women, typically involving scratching, hair-pulling, and shirt-shredding as opposed to punching or wrestling. It can also be used to describe two human females insulting each other verbally or being otherwise nasty to each other. The many ways that women compare themselves to other women and compete with each other are also referred to as catfighting (or cattiness). Catfights are different from other kinds of fights involving women because they usually involve competition between two or more women, usually over men. Catfight is a term also used on occasion to describe a political campaign between two women candidates. This use of the term however is considered offensive and demeaning.

Catfighting has recently been on the rise in several fields of entertainment. The appeal of a catfight was facetiously explained by Jerry Seinfeld, as "Men think if women are grabbing and clawing at each other there's a chance they might somehow, you know... kiss." Catfights have been featured in cartoons, movies, and beer television commercials, frequently ending with the participants missing articles of clothing.

In the 1970s, interest in catfighting led to the popularity of the women in prison films and roller derby. The current boom in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) women's wrestling is, in part, an offshoot of the catfighting craze.

Etymology

The term catfight was recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary as the title and subject of a 1824 mock heroic poem by Ebenezer Mack. It is first recorded as being used to describe a fight between women in 1854, the word cat being long established slang for a spiteful person, particularly a woman.

TV, cinema and music

Soap operas frequently incorporate catfights into their storylines; the series of altercations between Krystle Carrington (Linda Evans) and Alexis Colby (Joan Collins) on the 1980s primetime soap Dynasty are perhaps the most famous. Their best-known encounter occurred in 1983, when the Krystle and Alexis both ended up falling into a lily pond.

Catfights, both real and staged, have become a hallmark of The Jerry Springer Show, a television talk show.

Catfights (along with lesbianism) are often commonly depicted in exploitation films, particularly those which fall under the Women in prison sub-genre.

Miller Lite's racy Catfight commercial in 2002 greatly raised the profile of catfights in recent pop culture. The careers of both actresses in the original commercial, Kitana Baker and Tanya Ballinger, took off as a result of their exposure. The commercial shows an argument between the duo which escalates into a shoving match into a pool while ripping each other's clothes off and ends with them wrestling in a trough filled with concrete. It was derided by many as sexist while defended by Miller executives as "a lighthearted spoof of guys' fantasies."