Why do some women scream?

I don’t know. But what I do know is that very few things startle or scare or me. The one thing that does cause me to jump and my heart to race is screaming. When my wife or daughter scream, my body reacts with instant fight/flight.

It could be cultural, it could simply be a means of communication that was evolutionarily beneficial, or could be both. If I recall, we are not the only species that screams. It wouldn’t take much to imagine that those people who had a scream reflex were more likely to survive (and reproduce) – whether it be to scare off predators or warn others in a social group of a threat.

Edit: Also, your link is broken. I think you were intending to link to this?

Because they are redacted.

Yes, I am always reminded of monkeys when they scream.

If my kids scream I go into fight mode too. The things is, I would think you’d scream if you were alone and needed help. But when you’re in a room full of people who are all experiencing the same event, why scream? It’s annoying as hell and makes things worse.

I don’t recall screaming when startled or frightened. I tend to gasp. When I found myself upside down as my car rolled over, I exclaimed, “Holy Fuck!”

I’ve faced on coming traffic, dude passing when he shouldn’t be. I didn’t scream, just instantly moved my car to the shoulder. I was sure as hell shaking after word, but I never had the urge to scream.

I don’t mind when she screams in the bed room ;)

The only time I even came remotely close to screaming was when I was running through the kitchen in the summer of 2010 a couple of days before before my 30th birthday and I slipped on a patch of water, my feet went up in front of me and I fell full throttle on my coccyx and lower back. It was more of a painful full voice yelp. My Dad thought it was entirely unnecessary and took the piss out of me for ‘screaming’ saying it was a bit melodramatic. I’ve never come remotely close to screaming since. But I think perhaps I should in his face

Well, good gosh! How can a person know the level of another person’s pain?? If it hurts you’re going to yell!

@Dutchess_III precisely! he’s a tit sometimes!

I think some ladies relish the ‘helpless female’ role. Some of the ladies here will jump, scream and waste an hour of time if a lizard strolls through the office, it’s not like they bite. Silly girls.

I have two daughters. One would not scream. The other would. The one that would is also a drama Queen. Goes to great lengths sometimes to get attention.

I think its funny that you think men don’t scream. People tend to scream when cold water suddenly splashes on them. If you listen there sounded like a guy talking in a very high voice just before the water hit.
I remember my son screaming an crying when he got his antibiotic shot when he was about 8 at the emergency room. They said he was great. They said the worse were grown men who either yell out, or try to fight from getting a needle or just black out.
Everybody handles pain differently. As a kid I was the black out queen. Wanted me to hit the floor, all you had to do was show me a needle. Now I can take them like a champ but if they screw up more than twice, I tell them no.

@Pandora

Well, aren’t you the generous one :)

They don’t even get one chance with me.

I’m assuming you’re referring to blood draws rather than just a shot.

I tell them ahead of time that if they don’t think they can find the vein and not collapse it, just pass me on to whoever is the best at it. If they don’t and screw up then that’s it for the day. They will never get another chance with me EVER.

That gives them a moment to reflect and if I hear anything other than a confident “it’s fine. I know I’ve got it” then I just stop everything and politely ask them to go get the one person who has the reputation for nailing it every single time.

There’s always one who just has that uncanny sixth sense (or whatever it is) to never miss and everybody usually knows who it is.

So, if they have an ounce of common sense, that’s who they’ll pass me off to. I’m always very friendly about it but very firm.

I have really crappy veins. Definitely not the one for newbies to learn on :)

@Buttonstc LOL, I have one vein that they can get. I point them to it every time. I tell them it is that or nothing. If they can’t get it by the second time, then I tell them to get someone who can. The moment they try for my other arm where you can’t find, one vein, I tell them no. I want someone who will use the one good vein. On my right arm, I have one vein that is on the surface. The rest are hidden away. They know better. The other ones roll on me. So after a few years I was afraid to tell them how to do their job, because I thought they would just jack me up worse. I had one stupid nurse actually dig into my arm with a needle trying to catch my vein. That’s when I learned to say hell, no. Can laugh now about it but I never wanted to put someone through a wall so bad.

I was fortunate to have a therapist (MD) who, after taking a thorough look, told me exactly how bad my veins were.

He told me to never allow anyone near them with a Vacutainer because that sucks the blood out so fast that it increases the likelihood of collapsing the vein.

When I asked him how I could prevent them (I was pretty young and naive then) he just looked me straight in the eye and said “It’s your body and you have the legal right to determine who does what to it and to refuse any medical procedure. Don’t ever forget that !”

Just because I have consented to have my blood drawn does not mean I consent to having it done by an idiot or an incompetent :)

It was a really nice nurse who clued me into the fact that dealing with veins is as much an art as a science. And some people are much much better at it than others and just have a knack for finding and hitting the vein every time. And the other medical personnel all know which person that is.

And that’s who you request. And if somebody gets their nose out of joint, too bad for them. Even tho I’m always very polite about it, some people cop an attitude.

But I’ve realized that it has nothing to to with me (since I’m the same each time). Some people with self esteem issues of their own just interpret it as a challenge to their expertise or authority. I’ve seen this with people in all sorts of professions. Interesting.

So, give me the one with that special knack :) every time.

@Pandora I wasn’t referring to pain. I was referring to being startled. I can’t recall hearing a man scream just because he got startled. Maybe shouting out when he gets startled, like I would, “Holy shit!” but not “screaming.” See my link in the details again.

I scream sometimes but it’s more like screaming words. I can’t say I have never literally screamed. I mean I don’t remember what I did as a kid. But as an adult I do not recall being prone to that.

I wasn’t allowed to scream if I was just playing. I could shout, but not scream. Had the same rules for my kids.

I have some neighbor kids that shriek, that’s one worse than a scream

It should be illegal! I mean, you don’t know if they’re hurt or something. You go check and they’re just playing Daniel Boone or whatever. Pisses me off!