I was going to say that I don’t do this, but then I realized that I do in one specialized area: video games. If I try something in a video game that doesn’t work, I’ll just keep re-loading and trying it again, over and over. I go through a door and a guard shoots me? Do it again, but go faster. Didn’t work? Even faster. No? Try for a headshot. Still no? Try it with the shotgun. The machinegun! The pocketknife! God fucking dammit, why can’t I get past this fucking guard! This game fucking sucks! That’s it! I give up! I’m going to bed.
Then I come back the next day and see the ventilation shaft right next to the door.
I once got so frustrated at a computer game (Wing Commander II, IIRC) that I kicked a chair into pieces. In my defence, I was a teenager, and excessive hormones were involved. But still…
The above quote and “TRUNK SMASH!” made me laugh out loud. That’s the main reason I love this board so much…the wit of (some) of it’s members.
As for calling it “male behavor”, the main reason I did that was to reference the choice of force as the first option without even thinking about it. That seems like something testosterone fueled to me, but perhaps I’m wrong. I consider myself a calm and intelligent person…but come a stuck drawer and oh my yes, it’s on.
Maybe because I’m an engineer but when the drawer sticks or anything else goes wrong my instinctive reaction is to investigate the cause and try to fix it. My (extremely impatient) ex-wife’s, however, was exactly as you describe - just use more force. She broke a lot of stuff.
Most household jams and squeaks, after all, can indeed be solved by tugging/twisting/pushing/etc. a little harder. However, if applying “standard-high” levels of force does not work, some sort of cleverness is required (putting the jar lid in hot water; getting down on my knees and jiggling the drawer to see if I can figure out what’s jamming it; etc.)
I doubt this behaviour has anything to do with gender, but if it does, I feel quite comfortable with my approach as being quite in line with my usual role confusion.
I’ve got a drawer in my refridgerator that sometimes doesn’t close all the way and when this happens the main fridge door will not close all the way. I have found that closing the meat drawer very gently and applying force to both sides of it will result in a nice easy closing, but this requires two hands. - Drawer wins.
Going at it half-ass and pushing the drawer in the center (like most drawers are supposed to work) with medium force will result in the aforementioned jamming. - Drawer wins again.
Using great force and speed will overcome the jam and seat the drawer properly. - I win.
However, this method will probably result in drawer eventually breaking. - Drawer wins.