karathraceandherspecialdestiny wrote:
Exuvian wrote:
karathraceandherspecialdestiny wrote:
I don't think one gender is more angry or depressed than the other, just that the genders are socialized differently in how to act on those feelings so you end up with guys more likely to act out on anger and depression and take it out on others aggressively and women who are more likely to internalize anger and depression into self-harm.
It's complicated by that, yes. All things being equal socially though, I think whichever gender has higher testosterone levels will still end up being the more aggressive.
I don't think it's fair to blame men's behaviour on hormones. We don't like it when men try to blame everything they think is wrong with the way women act on their hormones (like PMS, that sort of thing)--I don't think the answer to that is to claim men also can't help it because "hormones make them that way". Blaming the aggressiveness of men on hormones just seems biologically reductive and sexist to me.
I think it has a lot more to do with how we raise and teach boys and men to not express their feelings than biology. Culturally in the west men are severely limited in the ways they can choose to "appropriately" express their emotions and I think it is that pressure and lack of choices more than anything else that leads to aggression and violence. If we taught little boys as they grew up that there are lots of different ways to be a man and to express how you feel I think we would see a lot less violence from men.
As someone of the male persuasion, who was diagnosed on the spectrum (right or wrong, who knows?), who has gone through puberty, and who has observed other males, I forward this opinion. Of course it's not 100% hormonal in any case, but I'm convinced it's a factor. A not insignificant factor in the way we
all function is hormonal. Chemicals ultimately have their say.
I started feeling less angry & frustrated after I started taking a med to lower my testosterone in order to reduce my sex drive. I have researched meds to lower sex drive before taking that med & there's been more than a few cases of guys who say they feel mentally better with having lower testosterone or sex drive. It may be due to feeling less sexually frustrated thou. It may be that in my case cuz I was having a very high sex drive & addicted to porn & masturbation.
28 Jun 2018, 7:13 pm
