Does punching things make men feel better?
The results of three experiments demonstrate that physically aggressive displays are part of men's cultural script for restoring threatened gender status. In Studies 1 and 2, challenges to men's gender status elicited heightened physically aggressive displays, including punching a pad with greater force and selecting an aggressive boxing activity over a nonaggressive puzzle activity. Study 3 established that a public display of aggressive readiness reduced men's anxiety-related cognitions in the wake of a gender threat. This suggests that aggressive displays may function to downregulate negative affect when manhood has been threatened. The discussion considers past research on gender and physical aggression in light of the authors' thesis that manhood, relative to womanhood, is culturally defined as a precarious status that must be actively, even aggressively, defended.
Source: "Precarious Manhood and Displays of Physical Aggression" from Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 35, No. 5, 623-634 (2009)
Confirming the punching thing is neat but I was more curious about the final sentence, given the curious and perplexing state of manhood today. You've got people trying to redefine it, going from one extreme to the other. From reading this blog, you know I have an interest in evolutionary psychology but the subject is often as much creative fiction as science, and in giving us guidelines it is a rather blunt tool.
I won't prattle on about my theories here but I would love to hear a sampling of reader thoughts and I promise to chime in. What do you think manhood means today? Was feminism a knife in the heart of being a man, or was it an essential reboot given our changing world? How do your thoughts and feelings about what a man is differ from what you see around you? What would you tell your son? Ladies, you have as least as much insight to offer on this subject as the guys do.
Do children stereotype males more than females?
"If you're reading this...then you are the worst man in history"
Can you tell if a man is dangerous just by looking at his face?
Are "feminine" or "un-feminine" women more likely to be sexually harassed?
Is saying that women are more sociable than men an inaccurate stereotype?
Is kindness less optional for women than for men?
Do we judge married women based on whether they take their husbands name?
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