@101: "A guy who has no love interest, and is starting to think that he never will even though by his own lights he's played by the rules, may send out a barrage of penis pictures as a way of saying 'fuck it, maybe this will at least get a reaction"

Of course, that is the catcaller's MO, they just want to "connect" on any level, hostile and creepy and negative as it may be.

Online dating though, they're also just going the passive shotgun attempt. Besides that I'm sure it works on plenty of bored, straight-identifying dudes.

BDF @100 and Cat Brother @98, First, I'm totally honored to have gooten responses from two of my favorite commenters.

The point #notallmen is true in this case. I have actually been that low self-esteem male at an earlier age. Later I developed some self-confidence and what I was saying above probably only really applies to men who are self-confident and/or believe themselves to be high-status males. Obviously, my comments were partially intended for humor and, as Cat Brother points out, don't really apply equally to all men.

I think there is a higher propensity among men than women (and males than females in some other species) to risk-taking, including in sexual strategies. And, let's face it, there are a certain number of people who may seem disinterested who may actually be willing to have sex with you. So, at the risk of paraphrasing a really dumb joke/bit of romantic advice I learned in about fifth grade, a man who hits on every woman who doesn't vomit at the sight of him will occasionally get lucky.

Some guys may expect to succeed almost every time and others may just not care if they annoy 99 women for the chance to have sex with one. Even after I gained confidence and before I got old, boring and married, I never followed that strategy, but I do think I really experienced irrational belief of women being attracted to me and that my experience is far from unique.

BTW, mostly in relation to my father, my mother used to call all forms of male gender-linked irrationality "testosterone poisoning." I've always liked that term.