When asked why they hassled women, most of the men responded that harassment alleviated boredom, was ‘“fun,” and gave them a feeling of camaraderie with other men; many added, defensively, that it didn’t hurt anybody. Some said it was intended as a compliment. Twenty percent said they would not enrage in the behavior alone but only did so when they were in groups of men – a finding that supports a “male-bonding” explanation of harassment of demonstrating solidarity and mutual power. A minority, approximately fifteen percent, who were also the group that employed the most graphic commentary and threats, said explicitly that they intended to anger or humiliate their victims.

Street Harassment and the Informal Ghettoization of Women by Cynthia Grant Bowman in Harvard Law Review, January 1993