[hunter1985]

Why is a fight between women called a catfight?

When women fight they mostly pull each other's hair and stuff.I am yet to see a cat dragging another cat by the fur on its head.

[HB]

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 term cat itself was originally a contemptuous term for either sex, but eventually came to refer to a woman considered loose or sexually promiscuous, or one regarded as spiteful, backbiting and malicious


That's from Wikipedia, so, as far as the accuracy. . .

[SashaFights]

one regarded as spiteful, backbiting and malicious

Seems to fit pretty well 

[mauler maureen]

Duh!!!! Do you think it could have something to do with all the clawing and gouging ?

[StarBear]

HB makes sense to me. Wonder why they don't teach that one in college lol.

[PaulineG]

From the documentary "Fight Club A History of Violence", The term catfight referred to the all in no holds barred fights between women in the Rookeries of Georgian London, whether they used the phrase because the combatants were often prostitutes or merely to differentiate from the dog and cockfights that took place in the same unsanitary pits the girls fought in was never made clear but it seems the term has been in use since the mid 1700's