An interesting new study from a researcher at Cornell. The researcher had men and women take a gender identity survey. The test subjects were then told that the survey showed that they were “masculine” or “feminine.”In fact, what they were told had nothing to do with their survey answers – whether they were told that their answers were “masculine” or “feminine” was random.
The subjects were then surveyed regarding various issues and also regarding car-buying preferences. The men who had had their masculinity “threatened” became more likely to support the Iraq war; more likely to oppose same-sex marriage; and more likely to want to buy an S.U.V. The researcher calls this phenomenon “masculine overcompensation”; Media Girl calls it the Fragile Male Ego.
The researcher, Robb Willer, says he’s planning a follow-up study to see if men are also more likely to favor violence against women if their masculinity is questioned.
I find this arguement interesting and ridiculous at the same time. I’m curious what you all think about the following situation…both my son and daughter are in the same G.A.T.E (gifted and talented education). They recieved an assignment in which they were required to identify antonyms: Girl, bird, boy, enormous.Please pick the correct antonym and explain why. Bare in mind this is suppose to be a “gifted” class of 10-12 year olds.
Please have a look at my blog ‘Boys to Men’ (cay01gin@wordpress.com) which addresses the issue of boys socially trained into the characteristics of soldiers and the acceptance of war as the ultimate display of masculinity.
Caygin