Why Men are Not Less Emotional than Women - Essay Example

Why Men are Not Less Emotional than Women Introduction To many people, the ment that women are more emotional than men is not one that warrants debate. It is self-evident and as far as it is concerned, women are naturally and genetically predisposed to emotion while men tend to be more pragmatic and “hard hearted”. Popular culture is rife with stereotypical depictions of the emotional imbalance. In movies such as James Bond, the leading male is always shown as strong and decisive, he does not cry or show any emotion aside from anger or pleasure which. Women on the other hand are needy, emotionally unstable and virtually incapable of making objective decisions. This belief can be traced back to retrospective cultures where men were expected to show leadership and strength, showing emotion is was a sign of weakness and a man breaking down in tears was and still is considered the epitome of weakness (Lutz, 2001). However, an objective examination of society coupled with historical, theoretical and practical research data proves that the claim men are more emotional than women is both outdated and based on ignorance. This paper seeks to defend this assertion by looking at both sides of the argument and exploring the various reasons given to support this fallacious claim. The genesis of the “emotionlessness” of men can be traced back to child rearing and social assumptions about how boys and girls should be brought up and generally cared for. Feminist philosopher, Simone de Beauvoir proposed the existentialist argument about sex and gender by claiming that one is not born woman or man. According to her, gender differences are purely sociological and the fact that one has been born female should not necessarily translate that she has been born a woman (De Beauvoir, 2012). The same can be applied for male children who do not become men by default; society socializes female children into women and male children into men simply because customs and social norms have retrospectively set the path for this kind of thinking. Case to point, when a boy is born he is dressed in masculine clothes given masculine toys such as cars and guns, conversely girls will be dressed in pink and often given dolls and tea seats among other things that serve to reinforce their femininity (Blakemore & Centers, 2005). In addition, the attitude of society towards children invariably dictates the formulation of gender. When a boy for example falls down and slightly hearts himself, he will be quickly picked up, dusted sometimes roughly, and harshly informed that men do not cry (Martin, 2000). On the other hand, a girl is likely to be encouraged to cry and she will be soothed and fussed over. The lessons learnt here are that boys and men must learn how to bear pain without flinching or showing emotions while girls can express their feeling by crying and seeking attention (Cooper, 2002). As they grow up, they gradually fall into the blueprint devised by society and the result is the universally acknowledged “truth” that men do not cry. Instead, they should maintain a stiff upper lip and do something tough like breaking a plate, punching a wall and generally keeping gentle emotional expression at bay. Evidently, while the above is theorizing, it is founded on reality and observable albeit not universal tendencies. The presupposition of masculine lack of emotion are in most cases based on the results of a process of bringing up children by dictating for them the feelings they should express. However, this by no means eliminates the capacity for men to feel or exaggerate women’s. It only brings out emotions more in women and teaches men to conceal theirs better rather than feel them less, consequently people assume boys are less emotional. Many theorists agree that although there are distinct biological differences between men and women, these do not account for the differences in emotional expression. Among the reasons given for the alleged lack expression in men aside from childhood experience is the fact that men and women practically live in different worlds. For example, when men express range and possession especially when they feel their space or property is being threatened, they are admired and respected for it. However, women in similar situations are often the subject of derision and are described as out or control and even emotionally unstable. Society in general also tends to judge women more harshly than it does men on matters of morals general conduct. For example, a man who has been known to have liaisons with women is referred to as a player in some circles, which despite the negative connotation is not always negative term. In fact, some men feel proud to be called such as it testifies to their power over women. On the contrary, women who act in a similar manner are harshly judged by the society with terms such as “loose” and “slut” among the less conservative circles (Milhausen & Herold, 2002). In the same way such stereotypes are created, the female propensity for emotion is created and juxtaposed with the absence of the same in men although once again this is evidence of the uneven view society perceives women. In fact, some studies have shown that the contrary may even be true; according to the Huffington Post (2014), men have been found in some cases to more emotional than women may. In a study, by the royal mail 15 men and women were presented with heart-warming content in form of pictures and videos. These videos were categorized as funny, existing and sentimental such as soldier returning home after service to unite with his family. Their emotional reactions were measured using electrodes attached to their skins. To the extent, which the electrodes can be deemed accurate, men expressed a marginally higher reaction than women in the blissful and funny videos, but were responded twice as strongly as the women were when they watched the heart-warming content. However, the accompanying questionnaire provided contradictory result, the test showed they had experienced a lot of emotion but most of them downplayed it in their answers. However, the women’s answers to the questioner matched their recorded emotional score, this meant either the measurement method was flawed or that women were more honest about their feelings. The founder of Mind lab, Dr David Lewis holds that gender stereotypes about the stoic nature of men and emotionless of women are constantly reinforced by consumption of media and societal interaction (The Huffington Post, 2014). He argued that people have a tendency to oversimplify and exaggerate the assumed gender differences, which makes them more likely to focus on evidence that supports prevailing stereotypes. The above study shows that men will feel just as much if not more emotion than women, however they are reluctant to express these emotions openly because of societal expectation. Assuming that the electrode test was accurate, it would appear that the men in the experiment felt embarrassed about admitting just how emotionally affected they were by the presentations. A consequent study conducted to test the findings of the above experiment found that out of 2000 men surveyed, 67% thought they were more emotional than they appeared (The Huffington Post, 2014). 40% of men between 18 and 24 said they had cried in the last week and 64% of those quizzed admitted to having being surprised at how much emotion they had felt at the birth of their child. Although the study by Royal mail was carried out to help them identify the emotional triggers for men to help them design father’s day cards, its implications cannot be ignore (The Huffington Post, 2014). Evidently, men are much more emotional than they tend to let on and contrary to stereotyped, the tough stoic nature of men is not necessarily representative of their emotional state. Women and men actually have similar emotional capacities varying individually rather than across gender, the only difference is the level or types of emotions it is considered socially acceptable for them to express. Society expects women to show sadness fear and loneliness, and rewards them with attention, which is why it is perfectly acceptable for men to express anger, and even lust, which they are encouraged to do through action movies, violent and sexual pursuits (Kelly et al. 2008). Women on the other hand are more attuned to emotional rather than violent content, they will watch soap operas and romantic films and even though both genders consumer sexual content, women are seen as being in it for emotions and men for pleasure. A 2008 study by the Scandinavian Journal of psychology claimed that women are actually less emotional than men are, however in the family unit; they have tended to have the more “emotional” roles as primary caregivers (Zapf et al. 2011). They are expected to comfort and show sympathy to men and children, on the other hand, men’s role as providers and problem solvers force them to minimize their emotional expression, with practice, they come to find it easier than women to ignore sentiments giving credence, albeit misguided to the assumption that they are less emotional. However, although all the arguments appear to indicate that there is no reason men should be though to be less emotional than women are, there are theories that present rather compelling evidence of a contrary view. One of the key signs of emotions and their expression is the crying, however, almost all studies conducted on this all too common phenomenal have shown that in most cases women cry more than men do. A study carried out in the 80’s by William Frey found that women would cry around 5.3 times a month while men generally do so 1.3 times (Bylsma, Croon, Vingerhoets & Rottenberg, 2011). In view of the arguments discussed above, one may rush to conclude that men feel the need to cry just as much as women but only do a better job of stifling it. However, biologically, it has been proven that Testosterone actually inhibits tears, while prolactin, which is more common in women, is likely to cause tears. In addition, Testosterone is unequivocally linked to anger and aggression, which is higher in males than female on the other hand, the amygdala is a more dimorphic structure in terms of sex, which implies the possibility of sexual differences in strong negative emotion (Stowers & Logan, 2010). As a result, when under pressure men produce cortisol, which readies them for action while women release oxytocin, which leads to seeking social support. The conclusion from a biological viewpoint is that women will be more likely to handle emotional challenges by reacting and an emotional way and seeking attention through crying while men are more likely to seek ways to solve the problem and generally be more pragmatic (Brownlee, 2005). However, while the biological underpinnings cannot be ignored, it is important to note that they are neither universal nor have they been proven empirically in their entirety. Had this been the case, then there would be no cases of men who have been found to react as emotionally as or more emotionally than women do. Despite the difference in the various biological and chemical aspects in the different sexes, the role of gender cannot be ignored. As aforementioned, one becomes a man or woman because of their socialization rather than biological factors. Therefore, if a person has been brought up in an environment where they are praised for taking aggressive action and emotional reactions are negatively reinforced, they will likely end up with a propensity for aggression. In refuting the biological basis for supporting the assumption that women are more, prone to emotion it can be argued that their biological make up only kicks in when they have already been made aware and feminine by their society. Claiming that women act the way they do simply because they are biologically different from men contradicts the theory of social learning, which holds that people acquire their learning, and by extension habits and behaviour from the social environment in which they live. Part of the reason many people believe women are more emotion can be traced back to the earlier periods such as the classical and renaissance where men were thought to be better artists and creators because they could channel their emotions more effectively. On the other hand women were seen as less talented since they could were too emotional and their feeling would get into the way of their creating art or making discoveries in music and science. Ironically, the truth may have been the other way round; women were assumed too emotional and therefore never given responsibilities (Weber & Rausch, 1994). The tradition of patriarchy in most societies has also contributed to the notion of men’s emotional maturity ex post facto societies usually reserved leadership roles for men and women were relegated to the peripheral. However, in some societies stark contrasts in the roles have been observed, for example among many Native American societies prior to European incursion, women held power that is more political than men are. They were in charge of tilling land caring for animal and electing leadership, women owned most of the property and factors of production and even though men were leaders, they did so at the pleasure of matriarchy (Richter, 2009). However, the arrival of the Europeans once again provides an archetypical example of how society forces the stereotypes on the genders. Anthropologists hold that by the time of making contact, European men had actually less autonomy than Native American women in their respective communities (Shoemaker, 1995). However, they introduced the system of Christian patriarchy by refusing to negotiate with women and instead insisting on only doing it with women. Gradually, the political role of women was eclipsed by the fact that they were no longer playing an active role in making decisions that affected the society. The Native American example once again proves that largely, the role of women is not based on their natural predisposition but rather the more forceful and culturally acceptable assumption about masculine leadership (Richter, 2009). The notion that emotions make men less effective as leaders is simply a result of bias and social cultural stereotypes created to vindicate perpetual patriarchies. Conclusion Ultimately, based on the evidence and theories discussed above, there is little doubt that the notion of men being less emotional than women is nothing more than an old stereotype reinforced by a legacy of patriarchy in majority societies . However, the fact that people tend to believe it does not necessarily make it in less fallacious. Some of the studies examined show that men have been observed to be more emotional on occasions, does this mean the opposite side of the argument is true? Once again, this cannot be explicitly proven given the divergent nature of the human attributes, it is not possible to say for a fact that either women or men are more emotional than women are. Just like intelligence, complexion and health, emotion is based on numerous personal factors and cannot be blanketed under the gender umbrella, as it does not allow enough space to factor in individual differences. Therefore, while there may be emotional variants between individuals, gender differences are primarily constructed on socialization rather than predisposition for certain emotions. References Blakemore, J. E. O., & Centers, R. E., 2005. Characteristics of boys and girls toys. Sex Roles, 53(9-10), 619-633. Brownlee, S., 2005. Inside the Teen Brain: Changes inside may explain turmoil on the outside. us. News and World Report. pp. 15-21. Bylsma, L. M., Croon, M. A., Vingerhoets, A. J., & Rottenberg, J., 2011. When and for whom does crying improve mood? 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