Gender differences & emotions

[Purplelemon7]

Hi

I’m having a discussion with someone over whether women are 1)less rational and more emotional and 2)less able to cope with stress

They have cited this article to me (which includes a lot of empirical studies):
www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/sexual-personalities/201504/are-women-more-emotional-men
It talks about women experiencing more negative emotions than men. My response to that would be that that’s only natural for a group that is more oppressed and discriminated against.

For part 2 I think this is the relevant study:
psycnet.apa.org/record/2004-20320-009
I’m less sure about what to say to this one.

I’m just starting out on my journey to trying to better understand feminism and I’m not a scientist. I would love to hear some of your thoughts. Thank you.

whether women are 1)less rational and more emotional and 2)less able to cope with stress

Which women are they referring to?

Women in general, on average, as compared to men

"I disagree but you are entitled to your misguided opinion" works for me.

There are few emotions less rational than anger, and men generally aren’t shy of displaying that.

It’s not a matter of who has a full range of emotions, but how we’ve been socialised into believing some emotions and emotional displays, are more “appropriate”, depending on your sex.

But you’re on a losing battle with this; studies won’t change his mind. I’d say, “do you really believe something so ridiculous”, and walk away.

@DancelikeEmmaGoldman Yes that an important point about how emotional or negative emotions are defined because a typically male emotion (anger) is negative.

I guess I’m really stuck on point two. Women and stress.

Why is that difficult? I only read the abstract, but it strikes me as entirely in line with female socialisation that a group with less power and socialised to be more attuned to family/caring responsibilities experiences life as more negative and less controllable and somatises the stress...?

And agree about male rage.

Its impossible to say if any human behaviour is cased by nature, nurture or socialization, because we can't provide any control groups.

• Figures show that women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression than men, they attempt suicide at the same rate as men, but men are more likely to succeed because they use more violent methods.

• Men are more likely to act out in violence and be convicted of a violent crime.

How can that be true if women are more emotional and less rational?

@SonEtLumiere yes that’s a good point if the stressors on women are greater that would explain why “women scored significantly higher than the men in chronic stress and minor daily stressors” I wish I had a study showing this :D

Men are feeling less shame?

Yet Women are murdered as a result of Men 'losing control of their emotions' because they feel embarrassed/shamed/belittled

Could it be we express more shame because the risk of not appearing to self regulate is so grave?

Less able to cope with stress raises the question of which 'stress' is equal for both sexes.

Yeah, men are just much less emotional and more logical - look at Donald Trump, logical, unemotional and handles stress very well...

Who starts wars
Who is responsible for the majority of violence and death in the world
Look at the 'reasons' men give for rape, murder, domestic violence
Look how they express their emotions and what they do when they're stressed. Eg the rise in violence around sports matches, they're so emotional about their football team losing they are violent to each other, animals, their partners etc.

I saw a study recently saying women were less emotional and more logical, especially when stressed. Something to do with less testosterone making us calmer and more rational. Will try and dig it out for you.

@lilmishap

Men are feeling less shame?

Yet Women are murdered as a result of Men 'losing control of their emotions' because they feel embarrassed/shamed/belittled

Could it be we express more shame because the risk of not appearing to self regulate is so grave?

That's not feeling shame, as women are likely to do. That's feeling anger about how they think others see them.

It's overly emotional, illogical and not a sign of coping well with stress however it's described.

I was under the impression that it was shown that women deal better with stress than men?

That we survive better, that we can endure more physical hardship (starvation, sleep deprivation, exhaustion) etc.

Personally, and anecdotally, I'd say that the trouble at the moment is a 'straw that broke the camel's back' one. That women already run most of their day to day life under stress, so adding covid and everything that brings on top has just tipped some of them over the edge.

Read "Invisible Women" - she talks about how women do experience more stress but its in line with the number of hours work they do, when childcare/housework is counted as work. Basically a lot of women don't get enough downtime so are chronically stressed compared to men.

I find it amusing when people say women are emotional......but completely neglect anger in their assessment.

Also, it wouldn't surprise me if women feel more negative emotion. They do most of the caring, most of the multitasking, most emotional/mental work in relationships, but they are often the most vulnerable, physically and financially.

If it is true, anyone thought about how this might be a response to protecting children. If we are better tuned in to our environments, are more sensitive to our surroundings, then we may be better protectors. As for stress, well, best start defining a few things emotion for one, based on a male person no doubt.

The male suicide rate being higher than that of womens' would seem to suggest that men are emotional and subject to stress- maybe just less able to implement coping strategies (and allowing for the impact of different methods used).

I think you can ask different questions.

Even if women do experience more negative emotions, Does experiencing more emotion, make one less rational? I didn’t see anything in the first article that would empirically support that? It might mean we are more empathetic, more nuanced in our emotional responses, don’t see why it would it makes us less rational.

And additionally- just because we experience more stress, does any of this evidence support us dealing less well with it? As PP pointed out, male suicide rates suggest the opposite.

We may be more ‘emotional’ and more stressed, maybe that’s the biological and societal hand we are dealt, but it certainly doesn’t mean we are any less rational or able to cope, actually there is plenty to suggest the opposite.

I think men are more hormonal and emotional than women, testosterone means that they are subject to being overwhelmed by rage as others have said but also to sexual arousal/lust both of which impair the function of the rational intellect.

It seems to me that they are also more susceptible to stress than women. The anger response and resort to violence is how we can see how they don’t cope with stress. I don’t know many men who could cope with 24/7 childcare + household tasks and keep their cool.

This difference in handling stress and emotionality between boys and girls is observable at a young age in the playground in my opinion. The evidence for me is the high number of boys compared to girls getting angry and lashing out physically and becoming tearful due to perceived insult.

All just anecdote and personal opinion...

Go watch a football match. Watch the spectators. Its hardly a stress free rational thing with no emotions.