Think It's Easy to Be Macho? Psychologists Show How 'Precarious' Manhood Is

[Tank]

Think It's Easy to Be Macho? Psychologists Show How 'Precarious' Manhood Is

ScienceDaily (May 3, 2011) — Manhood is a "precarious" status -- difficult to earn and easy to lose. And when it's threatened, men see aggression as a good way to hold onto it. These are the conclusions of a new article by University of South Florida psychologists Jennifer K. Bosson and Joseph A. Vandello. The paper is published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science...

Interesting and insightful bit of research.

[Ultima22689]

I could have told you that. It's ridiculous what men go through to "be a man". Maybe i'm somehow damaged goods, but I don't have the innate desire to beat my chest and be aggressive to prove my masculinity yet my father, brother and many others would scold me, because I don't beat my chest. I think this is a problem not unlike making girls think that they have to be perfect examples of beauty. Society needs to stop turning a blind eye to little boys because they are male.

[Asmodean]

Personally, I never understood some guys' need to be "manly"...

I'm aggressive when it is called for, but I wouldn't mind driving around in a pink Renault Clio and usually, I go a long way to avoid a showing of strength (Especially if it involves manual labour)

And yet... My penis is above average. (Don't mean to brag - just saying that for me, some stereotypes DO work  )

[Will]

I much prefer being assertive to being aggressive. I see no need to dominate or bully or intimidate. If I have something to get across, I'm much happier doing it while respecting those I'm sharing it with. If my point is valid, I'd prefer it stand on its own merit, not because it's backed with some threat or intimidation. I guess I believe in using only what force is necessary, and not a scintilla more.

[Tank]

I could have told you that. It's ridiculous what men go through to "be a man". Maybe i'm somehow damaged goods, but I don't have the innate desire to beat my chest and be aggressive to prove my masculinity yet my father, brother and many others would scold me, because I don't beat my chest. I think this is a problem not unlike making girls think that they have to be perfect examples of beauty. Society needs to stop turning a blind eye to little boys because they are male.

Simply being able to tell somebody something doesn't mean it's right. Lots of people tell me that God exists. The key here is research and evaluation and peer review. One can't avoid one's evolutionary history. We have to understand what we are and then adapt our behaviour to understand what we are. This sort of research is critical to our self-knowledge.

[Ultima22689]

I could have told you that. It's ridiculous what men go through to "be a man". Maybe i'm somehow damaged goods, but I don't have the innate desire to beat my chest and be aggressive to prove my masculinity yet my father, brother and many others would scold me, because I don't beat my chest. I think this is a problem not unlike making girls think that they have to be perfect examples of beauty. Society needs to stop turning a blind eye to little boys because they are male.

Simply being able to tell somebody something doesn't mean it's right. Lots of people tell me that God exists. The key here is research and evaluation and peer review. One can't avoid one's evolutionary history. We have to understand what we are and then adapt our behaviour to understand what we are. This sort of research is critical to our self-knowledge.

Indeed, if anyone is going begin researching this though, there has to be a call for it, considering society accepts things the way they are.

[Tank]

I could have told you that. It's ridiculous what men go through to "be a man". Maybe i'm somehow damaged goods, but I don't have the innate desire to beat my chest and be aggressive to prove my masculinity yet my father, brother and many others would scold me, because I don't beat my chest. I think this is a problem not unlike making girls think that they have to be perfect examples of beauty. Society needs to stop turning a blind eye to little boys because they are male.

Simply being able to tell somebody something doesn't mean it's right. Lots of people tell me that God exists. The key here is research and evaluation and peer review. One can't avoid one's evolutionary history. We have to understand what we are and then adapt our behaviour to understand what we are. This sort of research is critical to our self-knowledge.

Indeed, if anyone is going begin researching this though, there has to be a call for it, considering society accepts things the way they are.

Not sure I understand your point. We research things to discover what is going on. Personally I would of thought that would be reason enough?

[The Magic Pudding]

The key here is research and evaluation and peer review.

Thor's read the bible and says Jesus is a woos (woos ≤ wimp).

[Ultima22689]

I could have told you that. It's ridiculous what men go through to "be a man". Maybe i'm somehow damaged goods, but I don't have the innate desire to beat my chest and be aggressive to prove my masculinity yet my father, brother and many others would scold me, because I don't beat my chest. I think this is a problem not unlike making girls think that they have to be perfect examples of beauty. Society needs to stop turning a blind eye to little boys because they are male.

Simply being able to tell somebody something doesn't mean it's right. Lots of people tell me that God exists. The key here is research and evaluation and peer review. One can't avoid one's evolutionary history. We have to understand what we are and then adapt our behaviour to understand what we are. This sort of research is critical to our self-knowledge.

Indeed, if anyone is going begin researching this though, there has to be a call for it, considering society accepts things the way they are.

Not sure I understand your point. We research things to discover what is going on. Personally I would of thought that would be reason enough?

Not many people are aware or care about this, if there's no interest, no funding, if there's no funding, there's no research, the way society is wired these days, you have to make it an issue that appears on the news or some form of media. If mere interest was all that's needed, there would have already been extensive research, no?

[Tank]

Not many people are aware or care about this, if there's no interest, no funding, if there's no funding, there's no research, the way society is wired these days, you have to make it an issue that appears on the news or some form of media. If mere interest was all that's needed, there would have already been extensive research, no?

I agree it isn't a particularly glamorous area of research so is unlikely to attract a lot of funding. I do find research into human behaviour very interesting and I think understanding why humans behave the way they do is critical to the quality of life of our descendent. If we can't discover the functional roots of our incorrigible obsession with reproduction and counter them, then the planet is pretty much doomed as we know it now. So I personally think there should be a lot more research in this area.

[DeterminedJuliet]

It's funny you should post this, because we had an incident in work earlier this week involving a "macho" guy.

I work at an veterinary clinic and this particular guy's dog needed pretty extensive surgery. He had put an elastic band around his dog's tail to try and dock it himself - but it didn't work and the tail got infected and all kinds of messed up. He was given an estimate before hand, but the surgery ran long so he ended up getting billed for more than he was quoted for (which he was informed of as soon as the vet and assistant were out of surgery).

Well. He didn't like that very much. He came in and burst through our clinic cursing and screaming that he was "getting his fucking dog" and barreled right through our treatment doors (where the public isn't allowed) and tried to get into our kennels where we keep our recovering patients (where the public REALLY isn't allowed). Three of our staff had to throw themselves in front of him  (we're all women - which was probably the only reason why he didn't start throwing punches). He scared the hell out of all of the other clients in the waiting room.

And do you want to know the craziest part? He told the vet's assistant that she had to "get a control on her emotions" because his insane behaviour made her cry. Like, somehow, going completely unhinged and physically intimidating a building full of people isn't losing control of one's emotions?

Anyway, so yes. I've been thinking about the scarier and more negative definitions of masculinity this week.

[Stevil]

Anyway, so yes. I've been thinking about the scarier and more negative definitions of masculinity this week.

That would have been pretty scary. But I don't think going nuts and agro is a definition of masculinity. It takes a lot more strength to control yourself. It's just a shame some people think the opposite.

Oh, one of my favourite movies of all time, the epitome of macho, John Rambo.
At the end of First Blood, crying like a baby!