Study Finds Men Can “Endure” More Pain than Women
The Daily Mail: A new study suggests that men can endure more pain than women (thanks to the reader who emailed the story):
It is a debate that can prove rather agonising for everyone involved.
Men have long claimed that their pain threshold is higher than women’s, while women cite childbirth as proof the opposite is true.Now, however, scientists claim to have found the answer once and for all. It seems men can tolerate more pain than women and are less likely to let on that they are suffering because they want to appear macho.
I assume this physical pain extends to the psychological. Men in relationships who are suffering rarely let on. Is this good, bad, or indifferent? I think it depends on the circumstances. Also, just because men can endure more pain, does it make it easier? I don’t think so. It could just be that a man will be ridiculed if he shows pain and a woman will be sympathized with.
You wrote:’it could just be that a man will be ridiculed if he shows pain and a woman will be sympathized with.’
I submit for your review:
When Dalrock wrote the post:
http://dalrock.wordpress.com/2012/10/30/is-his-wife-abusive/
Commenter Andrew responded with an experiment.
the original question can be found here:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ArwfOqVScrl0ltPtzx8G.ITsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20121029074651AAAfYtc
Andrew’s experiment in changing sex pronouns and framing can be found here:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AkMfCe0GACHU0CGoJG1_WG4jzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20121031205200AADRxJp
Please review the answers that both questions receive, keeping in mind the variable is the sex of the questioner.
A study was necessary to determine that men can endure more pain than women? I would have thought that the facts that men get married and women file for most divorces were sufficient evidence of that.
Women can withstand more pain. Women don’t fart.
Both things women have told us for generations that we have told our sons are a load of bull.
Many things fall under this general category.
I know bloating can be painful, and holding it in agonizing, but refusing to fart is hardly evidence of a greater pain threshold.
It ain’t a matter of refusing – they never shut up long enough to build up sufficient back pressure.
Childbirth has always been used as the gold standard for pain, but years ago my sister-in-law told me that passing a kidneystone was way more painful than having either of her kids.
My uroligist told me the same thing many years ago. I missed one day of work the entire 45 days I carried that painful little devil around. My co-workers at the time wondered why they saw me on one knee so much – that would be when the pain like a knife being twisited in there would hit.
The child birth meme is specious anyway. The only sense in which women “tolerate” the pain of childbirth is that they don’t die from it.
Yeah, I once had an emergency room nurse tell me she’d rather have all her 5 kids over than have another kidney stone. And guess who has the vast majority of the kidney stones?
What men COULDN’T handle, though, is menstruation. No effing way. Props to the lady for dealing with that crap.
Well, first of all, you have to–OUCH, DAMMIT!
FWIW I take care of my semi-invalid wife. I have my own aches and pains. It is often hard for me to be as sympathetic and caring as I need (she wants?)to be because she surrenders to pain so much faster and easier than I can anticipate.
Just not true in my experience. Its more a type of person thing than a gender thing.
Well, yes. But:
– Don’t let appearances fool you, ladies: we don’t like it any better than you do;
– We’d still appreciate a little TLC afterward;
– One of the reasons we don’t “let on” is that we’d rather not give you any ideas.
Men need to be able to endure more pain, because they have to put up with women.
When you hunt dangerous animals as our ancestors did you cannot afford to appear to be lame. You can’t make noises, or sit down, or flop about without risking being eaten. You can’t cry out if you twist your ankle when you are stalking your dinner unless you want the tables to be turned. So, there was probably some evolutionary selection for this propensity of men to suffer silently.
If you want to belittle this characteristic by giving it the pejorative “macho” then that just shows how far removed we have become from nature and the virtues it requires of us. And it shows just how gynocentric our society has become.
There is a reason why women don’t, in fact can’t, play football. They love their bodies too much.
I’ve been watching football all of my life, 50+ years. I’ve seen men endure incredible pain, injuries. They willingly sacrifice their bodies for the game. I remember when Ronnie Lott, the only 49er I have any respect for, had his finger cut off on the sidelines just so he could get back onto the field. A woman would never do something like that. For what, a game?
It goes to the profound difference between men and women. Yeah, women can play professional sports, like soccer and basketball and softball and tennis, but not football.
You can ask any man who played professional football, and I’ve talked to several, and he’ll tell you it wasn’t about beating the man in front of him as much as it was about helping the man beside him. It was about being in the huddle. It was about 11 men working as one. It was about making a block, taking a hit, so someone else could make a play and win the game.
It’s called male bonding, and it’s the definition of self-sacrifice. You give yourself to the team, in order to win. The same thing happens in the military.
Women do not do this. Women do not understand this. Men do. If there’s pain, injury, involved, so be it. What matters is the man beside you. The man in front of you can be beat. The man beside you has to be helped.
I’m sure child birth is a painful experience. If it doesn’t kill you, it will change you forever. But pain is not the issue here. Self-sacrifice is.
And macho is not the correct word for it. The macho is the dominant male in a homosexual relationship. Why do you think the Village People sang, “I want to be a macho man / A mucho macho man”?
That isn’t male bonding. That isn’t teamwork. And that doesn’t win football games or wars.
Oh, and by the way, guys, how do you know when a woman knows she has you hooked? When she farts in front of you.
Men don’t let on that they’re in pain because the average male has learned at a very young age that no one really cares about his suffering. At worst, he’s going to be ridiculed and called a pussy, at best, he can hope for indifference.
Throw in that social resource options are far far lower for men than they are for women. Women typically have a social network of built in supporters that either can identify the problem before it gets to the suicide point, men, not so much. And the biggest group of male suicides is amongst elderly men, you have a wicked combination of social isolation, a good possibility of being distanced from one’s family, and the feeling that one is no longer a contributing, valued member of society on top of that. Most men were raised to not be a burden, and feeling like you are one is detrimental to mental health.
Good? It teaches perseverance, problem solving, and sacrificing one’s self for the goal (be it a football championship, family harmony, or just living until tomorrow).
Bad? Men are more likely to off themselves successfully than women. A woman downs pills, it’s a cry for help and there’s a chance someone will find her and take her to the hospital. A guy cries for help, goes typically unrecognized, and the first clue as to his suffering is when they find the body and the GSW to the head.
Indifferent? Like I said, more men commit suicide successfully. The numbers I’ve seen are that men are 4 times more likely than women to commit suicide successfully (women attempt it more often). Just like 95% of workplace deaths are men, there’s not exactly a campaign out there to go and rectify this.
But Macho? The time to retire that stupid stereotype has long past. Quite frankly, the default response to men not acting like women is that they’re “macho”. Like we just love to walk around hitting ourselves in the kneecaps with ball-peen hammers to show off how tough we are for the wimmin-folk. Of course, in-depth analysis, reasoning, and actually talking to men about such things has long been far beyond the grasp of the MSM, so I doubt we’ll see any progress on that front any time soon.
Macho? The 70s called and wants it’s jargon back.
If I stub my toe walking through the kitchen I typically yell out. Why? No cost and it’s what I want to do.
If I’m “on the job”, whatever that is, I typically don’t react at all. Yelling or jumping around or whatever doesn’t help work out whatever I’m doing. I always find the guy in the movie who drops the screwdriver when his hand gets cut totally stupid. That doesn’t happen unless you cut a tendon. You might pause and clean it up or keep blood of the handle but other than that why bother?
Fight? Same thing. Take a solid hit to the jaw, arm or rib, yeah it hurts. Broken bone? Nope. The other guy shouldn’t even know. It’s not “Macho” it’s just the way it is. Yelling out or complaining isn’t going to help the situation so why do it? Finish it off and tell your buddy you can’t help him move his couch because your arm and ribs hurt like hell.
Until they can invent a painometer and accurately measure quantifiable pain this will remain a debatable point.
But, my observation is, women’s threshold at which they begin squawking about pain, illness, hardship, or even having to do a boring thankless task is far lower than men’s.
And yea, to agree with those who posted above; if a man complains he’s a pussy and if he doesn’t he’s a macho idiot. More proof that The Patriarchy is real and oppressing women everywhere.
It bothers me that in endeavors such as the military and the police, the realities of gender differences are being swept under the rug. Sometime, when it matters, that will come back to haunt us.
Amazing! None of you guys have ever been kicked in the nuts and survived to tell about it.
Ah. Men can withstand more pain than women, it turns out. But only because we are petty!
Is there a war on men? Nah.
I don’t know if the study is true, but if it is it’s because God designed the sexes to be different and complementary. We should celebrate and be grateful for our differences.
edl — “…We should celebrate and be grateful for our differences.”
It would be nice to do that, if modern society didn’t denigrate and condemn men for theirs.
The way I’ve heard it previously stated is slightly different. e.g., excerpting from here:
This has also been documented in experiments. Women having a higher pain tolerance during childbirth and men having higher pain tolerances the rest of the time don’t seem contradictory to me. Of course, for political purposes it seems to be argued that hormones have no affect on people… but I digress.
Ok. I just have to say that women can have as much pain as they want in childbirth. I had the epidural. If pain is the choice and she choses pain, the man has to suffer along with her. Hmmm.
” I remember when Ronnie Lott, the only 49er I have any respect for, had his finger cut off on the sidelines just so he could get back onto the field.”
Great story but not true. So much for memory seared … seared … in memory. Kerry would be proud.