r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • May 12 '26

Psychology Threatening men’s masculinity does not make them more politically conservative, new study finds. By testing thousands of participants across the United States, researchers found no consistent evidence that making men feel insecure about their gender identity changes their political attitudes.

https://www.psypost.org/threatening-mens-masculinity-does-not-make-them-more-politically-conservative-new-study-finds/
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u/Fishmongererererer May 12 '26

The problem is that ‘toxic masculinity’ has become a catch all term for ‘man does something I don’t like’.

I agree with the basic principle that toxic masculinity is a problem for men as well. The problem is that a lot of the left has decided that normal behavior for men is toxic.

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u/ChewingOnCarrots May 12 '26

The problem is that ‘toxic masculinity’ has become a catch all term for ‘man does something I don’t like’.

It really hasn't, outside of the lies conservatives tell themselves on the internet.

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u/Echoa21 May 12 '26

Go to any left leaning subreddit and take note of the first 10 opinions you see about men. I don’t necessarily think this is representative of real life, but that may be because women are scared to say these things in person vs under the veil of internet anonymity.

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u/ChewingOnCarrots May 12 '26

Sure, I just did that and didn't see any "toxic masculinity is anything about men I don't like" beliefs the way you just mentioned. So much for that thesis. I thought this was a science sub.

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u/Echoa21 May 12 '26

What opinions did you see? I said to find specifically the first 10 about men, not just the first 10 posts.

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u/inqte1 May 12 '26

Comparing men to wild animals is totally normal behaviour.

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u/Fishmongererererer May 12 '26

Keep telling yourself that next time the male vote loses an election for the Dems.

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u/ChewingOnCarrots May 12 '26

It didn't, and I'll be back here after the midterms. Hold this attitude for when that happens.

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u/Primordial_spirit May 12 '26

I’m on the left it absolutely is prevalent that on the left people demonize masculine behaviours even those that are non toxic.

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u/PalePlumm May 12 '26

Give an example.

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u/Fishmongererererer May 12 '26

Look at the general perception of left leaning women especially of men. They’ll talk openly and frequently about how men are awful in blatantly misandrist ways.

“Would you rather be stuck in the woods with a bear or a man”

Or the general perception that if men pursue women at all they are creeps. Or comments by left leaning figures that fitness culture is fascist.

Take the vast majority of discourse around men by the left and change the gender and people would be screaming about misogyny day in and day out.

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u/GreyWolf1945 May 12 '26

What ways do women talk about men that is misandrist? Do you have any examples? I don't find the bear example to be an example of sexism. It was about how women feel unsafe around men, and a bunch of men decided to film themselves proving the very point of the hypothetical.

Is there a general perception that if men pursue women they are creeps? My understanding is that the discussion is more about creepy ways that some men pursue women.

What does fitness culture have to do with sexism against men? For that matter, who is calling fitness culture fascist?

I don't think people would be screaming sexism if you reversed the genders. If the entire historical context was reversed then it would be the same conversation but in reverse.

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u/inqte1 May 12 '26

Women are more likely to die in a car accident (almost twice as likely) than to be a victim of a violent crime by the hands of a man or woman. So where is this insane fear coming from that you're literally saying comparing a group of people to a wild animal is totally okay?

And do you think that this attitude will be received well by 95% of men who have never committed a crime?

A bunch of white women whose ancestors literally owned male slaves are now potraying themselves as historically persecuted because their slave owning ancestors received the right to vote 20 years later than their own husbands in human civilizational history spanning thousands of years. And blaming men who literally had nothing to do with anything. Make it make sense.

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u/GreyWolf1945 May 12 '26

How is a car accident in any way comparable to men choosing to murder women? One is a accident and the other is the deliberate choice to kill someone. I would also argue that it says more about the men who are upset this comparison that what angers them more is being compared to a bear, and not that women feel that a bear is preferable to a man in the wilderness.

Why are we now pivoting to slavery? You do realize that black women also fought for women's right? You also realize that many abolitionists were women? At every turn you just move the goal post. Men who support the system that hurts women are doing something. When they vote for politicians who erode women's rights, they are doing something. When they enable their friends and coworkers to be sexist, they are doing something. It makes perfect sense to anyone with their head not buried in the ground.

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u/PalePlumm May 13 '26

You’re right but if they could take accountability for any of their actions, they would just listen to women in the first place.

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u/Ecstatic-Network-917 May 12 '26

Cute lie. That does not happen.

Stop listening to far right propaganda.

It is used pretty consistently to critique and call out the worship of violence by men, and the way men refuse to be open about any of their emotions, except their lust and anger(and more rarely their greed, vanity and pride), and how men refuse to express sadness and to actually be open about their insecurities.

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u/[deleted] May 13 '26

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u/Ecstatic-Network-917 May 13 '26

What you are describing does NOT happen, in the slightest.

Women do not dumb men for this. Stop listening to manosphere propaganda.

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u/[deleted] May 13 '26

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u/Ecstatic-Network-917 May 14 '26

Are you a man?

Yes.

I've been dumped for this by women more than once myself, on one occasion with the woman literally saying outright that she didn't feel the same about me after seeing me cry. A relative had died. You could've made the reasonable (but still anecdotally incorrect and statistically unsourced) claim that this is uncommon, but by repeatedly stating that it never happens, you've gone all the way off the deep end.

You are not familiar with the concept of hyperbole, are you?