I’ve been feeling insecure about being a man a little more than usual lately. I can try to explain why I always was insecure, (and more-so lately), if you really want to know. I understand that my thinking isn’t always rational and that I should try to strive to be a good individual. I just think that I celebrate other people who are different from me a great deal, but want to know what’s special about being born a guy.
I don’t mean for answers like “We/They have all the power”. That’s part of my insecurity. I would want nothing more than to see more people of diversity in power. Then I can be more secure in celebrating what makes me, me… including my manhood. Not just that, but I see the benefits of more diversity when it comes to power.
I’m also aware that there might be subjective answers to this question, and exceptions, like; men are generally stronger, but there are plenty of women out there that could kick my ass).
It’s just that on the radio I keep hearing of studies where females come up on top. I rarely hear statistics where males often have the advantage.
So, what are some things men are better at? I’ve been told women were better multi-taskers, but was once told that men could concentrate on one specific thing better. Is this true?
Mods, I wasn’t sure where to put this. IMHO, GD, GQ? I felt to put it here because I get a little personal, instead of GQ… Then again, the topic might controversial or opinionated.
Yep, the whole urinating thing is way easier with a penis. I can urinate while kayaking without even standing up, right into a container which I easily dump overboard. We get fucked over in divorce court, but it’s worth it to be able to pee so simply.
Oh, and opening stubborn jars, that too is an area where we excel.
I spent most of my working life in male-dominated workplaces - first in the Navy, then as an engineer working for the Navy. It always felt like I had to work harder and longer than the men to have my worth recognized.
New guy comes in - if he doesn’t know something, well, he’s new - here, fella, here’s what you need to know.
New woman comes in - if she doesn’t know something, well, she’s just a girl and she probably got the job by flashing her tits at someone.
Along the same lines - a man screws something up, he’s a screw-up. A woman screws something up, she becomes evidence that women shouldn’t be allowed to do “manly” things. A man has an auto accident, he did something wrong or was in the wrong place at the wrong time. A woman has an auto accident, she’s a “woman driver.”
Maybe not a huge deal to some, but it certainly looks beneficial to me.
I agree with peeing and opening jars.
We’re also available to remove spiders humanely from a house (I once travelled for over an hour to do this on behalf of an attractive woman )
Maybe there’s something to that. I came home one day and told my fiancé about a guy at work who was annoying me asking me why I was doing this that and the other thing - implying I was dumb for how I did things. I just told him it was because I’m a moron and I have a low IQ (really no sense in me wasting my time trying to talk sense to a fool). Anyway, she was a welder at the time, and she said, “I’m jealous, you can just say things like that because you’re a guy, I can’t do that.” I realized at that moment that I really had no idea what the working world was like from a woman’s perspective.
Aside from the societal benefits, which I think is what you mean by “the obvious”:
We generally have more upper-body strength.
We tend to be larger and taller.
Even on a per-weight basis, we have a greater tolerance to certain poisons.
We can have children much more quickly and easily than women can (note that I am not saying that we should, just that we can).
On the down side:
We’re more prone to many diseases, which add up to a lower average lifespan.
We’re more prone to aggression and related forms of stupidity.
My husband has a name that is usually a woman’s name. Every so often he will contact some kind of professional via the internet, so they first respond to him without hearing his voice, only seeing that woman’s name in the “from” field. He says that this is the essence of it. He always knows when they’ve made that mistake, and it pisses him off.
As a man, you can go almost anywhere and people will assume you are competent and capable of making decisions. The exceptions are ridiculous, too. I’ve purchased curtains and had the saleswoman treat me like I must be a moron. Big Deal. Contrarily, I’ve been out with my wife, female friends, even my mom, and for a really wide range of activities witnessed people assume they’re clueless or that I’m making the decision.
More generally, if you are a man almost everyone likes you by default. This is especially true if you’re a straight white man. If you’re a good looking woman, you might be instantly liked by some men. But then there will be bitter men who resent you without getting to know you. Lots of women will dislike you whether you’re good looking or ugly, for no discernible reason.
Obviously there are plenty of men and women who *don’t *make irrational snap judgements about people based only on their sex. But as a man, I think you come out ahead way more often when they do.
Yes. This is what I meant. I hear things like women can walk into a room and describe their surroundings in more detail than a man. Women dream more vividly. Women are less likely to be colorblind.
Looking for things like this where men are the ones that are “on top”.
Men have a much better spatial sense. They understand the concepts of north, south, east and west and can think more easily in 3 dimensions.
Men are less likely to be perfectionists. They are generally more willing to take risks, and to try things at which they don’t have a guarantee of success. They are also more tolerant of their own mistakes and failures. (The book The Confidence Code cites a number of research studies documenting these differences between men and women.)
Men are less likely to turn into raving bitches with the cycles of the moon (is that women, or werewolves…?)
Men are less likely to get MS and suffer from migraines. They are much more likely to recognize a heart attack when it happens (for some reason, women’s heart attack symptoms are much more subtle) - and therefore are more likely to get help.
Most men have never wondered if they should be carrying pepper spray.
While dressing up for a man isn’t necessarily the height of comfort, there isn’t any reason for you to ever wonder if cute strappy 2 inch heels are really needed with this outfit. You never look in the mirror in the morning dressing for work and wonder if the top you just bought might actually be a little too low cut or that the shirt you washed now gaps at the buttons. You will never have to deal with an underwire cutting loose from its containment in the middle of a four hour meeting and poking you in the armpit (while making you lopsided).
Men develop more blood vessels in parallel to service the heart muscle as they age, so older men tolerate a blockage better than women or younger men. There’s more redundancy there. So, heart attacks are generally much more survivable by older men than by women or younger men. At least, so I remember reading.
Which is not to say fewer older men die of heart attacks, because (I think) we older men are likelier to have them in the first place.
Sexual abuse is not really a risk for us outside of childhood, the military or prison (most men who are sexually abused seem like it happens in one of those settings, at least that is my impression. I could be wrong). Women have to worry about it their whole lives. I don’t have to be afraid of walking in a dark parking garage.
No monthly period, no menopause (although we do get our own hormonal disturbances, they don’t seem as bad).
We get fewer autoimmune diseases.
I don’t know if I’d call this a ‘benefit’ but running out on your responsibilities (like your children) isn’t as frowned upon when a man does it vs a woman. In a way that is a benefit, bad behavior like philandering or avoiding family responsibility isn’t stigmatized as much.
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