Are women really more emotional than men?

SpermJackalope · 2013-09-14T01:12:43+00:00

I disagree women are more emotional than men. I do think it would be fair to say women verbally express their emotions more, and are more open about them generally.

However, the high rates of violence men engage in would seem to indicate ther are much more prone to uncontrolled outbursts of anger, jealousy, and insecurity - probably due to the culture requirement that men repress their emotions and thereby never allowing them to be healthfully worked through.

fhqwhgads_ · 2013-09-14T00:36:25+00:00

For many people sex is a physical need, not an emotional one.

LifterofThings · 2013-09-14T17:42:26+00:00

I think in order to have this debate properly, we'd have to decide on some definitions, and how to measure things.

re: emotional. Are we talking about feeling emotions, or are we talking about expressing them? What kind of expressions are emotional, what kind are "logical"?

Is there a way to assign a value to "emotional"? Are we prepared to be objective in its evaluation?

If I had to guess, I'd say men and women experience about equal levels of "emotion", though the nature of the emotions might be different, and the expression of them undoubtedly is.

Scarlett_Begonias · 2013-09-14T07:36:25+00:00

I don't think either gender is more emotional. Social pressures sometimes dictate which emotions men or women are more likely to express I suppose, but there's a huge range of emotional tendencies within each gender.

There's nothing wrong with being "ruled by emotion", or by raw biological instinct, as opposed to logic. Humans' great capacity for emotion has clearly been advantageous to us. As a social species, emotions are one of our most basic common bonds to each other.

I personally tend to be a very unemotional person in general, and certain feelings (fear, anger, and affection especially) come very rarely to me. I've found it to be more of a hindrance in my life than a help, though maybe it's because people expect more emotion from a woman? The main complaint my ex-boyfriends have is that I'm not affectionate or tender enough, and that I'm insensitive and have a hard time understanding other people's feelings when they are hurt. Anyways, despite being less prone than most people to some emotions, I am more "ruled by emotion" than average in other cases. I don't think it's hypocritical to be logical in some areas and emotional in others; it's just that every person tends to express certain emotions certain ways. (FWIW I think this is affected just as much by environment as by biology.)

sigmalays · 2013-09-14T14:02:13+00:00

The part you quoted already made the distinction very clear. Women and men are probably capable of being equally emotional.

The difference is that men (but not women) have significant external pressure against letting their emotions take over, against being ruled by their emotions.

A woman who can't control her emotions is "sassy" or "creative" or "free spirited". A man who can't control his emotions is dangerous.

Title	Are women really more emotional than men?
Author	CFRProflcopter
Upvotes	8
Comments	74
Date	September 13, 2013 8:10 PM UTC (12 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/PurplePillDebate
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/PurplePillDebate/comments/1mc3q6/are_women_really_more_emotional_than_men/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/PurplePillDebate/are-women-really-more-emotional-than-men.286791 https://theredarchive.com/post/286791

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