The Masculine Overcompensation Thesis

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MrsSpringsteen

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Interesting, and I have observed this thesis in practice :sexywink: I hate that whole "being man enough" macho thing, etc. but unfortunately it still exists in 2005. The expressing more homophobia aspect of the study is especially disturbing to me. I think we should just leave the SUV thing alone :wink:


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8914760/

NEW YORK - Tell a man that he’s not “man enough” and he may exhibit extremely macho behavior to compensate, new study findings suggest...

"The idea of masculine overcompensation is not new. With roots in Freudian psychology, the concept has been popularly accepted as true, but not necessarily proven, according to Willer.

The current findings suggest that it “actually does have some empirical validity,” he said."

"Women apparently didn’t care about their identity rating. Those who were told that their survey responses were more masculine than feminine did not show any feminine overcompensation, Willer said."
 
Men have it harder in this instance, I think. There has never been the hard and fast definition of feminine that there is for masculine. On the whole, tomboy has had more positive connotation than the equivalent socially.

Women have other ways than masculine/feminine identity definitions to destroy each other.
 
THe most commonly asked questions to me, when I see relatives, etc, are

"You working yet?"
"Got a lisence?"
"Got a car?"

Now, those are typical, but when they are posed to me, it is often a manliness check kind of thing. It is an interesting thing to look at...

"manliness" is........ very....... complex.


:laugh:

sounds like a contradiction a little, no?
 
This theory isn't much of a surprise to most of us, I think. It's kind of like "Duh". LOL. Seriously, though, as a masculine gay man, I observe this all the time, and even used to adhere to it before coming out. I'm originally from Texas where, well, it's just not too well-accepted to be gay. :wink: Truthfully, I was actually somewhat homophobic at that time, and that was clearly a defense mechanism for me to try to cover up who I was, like there was anything wrong with that. It really frustrates me looking back. Both for me, and every straight man whose "manliness" is threatened, there is a classic overcompensation to make up for it.

That's why the whole "Metrosexual" movement has been kind of an unexpected surprise for me. Heterosexual guys here in the U.S. have, at least to me, always seemed WAY too concerned with maintaining a "masculine" appearance to go through with getting manicures, hair highlights, etc. Those things are just too "gay". Oh well, this just shows how dangerous stereotypes are, I guess.
 
For Honor said:
THe most commonly asked questions to me, when I see relatives, etc, are

"You working yet?"
"Got a lisence?"
"Got a car?"

That's interesting. I'm female, and whenever I see relatives I get asked if I've got a boyfriend. :|
 
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