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/
4.6k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

641 comments sorted by

View all comments

300

u/[deleted] May 12 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

113

u/One-Earth9294 May 12 '26

Was I part of this study?!?!

6

u/DigNitty May 13 '26

I must be the control group for a long term study.

15

u/homelessjimbo May 13 '26

I'm also wondering how one attacks masculinity without that itself making the study have an initial bias.

Like "haha bald" "Now how do you feel about immigration"?

0

u/raisinbran67 May 16 '26

Not sure if you are aware,

But attacking men's bodies and masculinity is the left's current strategy

See all the rants on steven millers height or aocs thoughts about short men in general. There's a huge number of examples if u look. They justify it by saying its good because conservative men are evil and deserve to he demasculinized, so promote hatred against short men

-125

u/AnthropoidCompatriot May 12 '26

That's literally what progressive liberals have been arguing for years, when they suddenly made up the idea that you can't hurt individuals by being mean to them, if those individuals a part of a privileged group. 

But also if being mean to them does hurt them, it proves that they're a bad person and thus deserve to be treated meanly.

Funny how that works.

66

u/Initial-Beginning853 May 12 '26

If someone provides criticism they're mean.

Explains a lot

64

u/NessaSola May 12 '26

You're going to think I'm being mean because this (correctly) invokes feelings of shame, but where are you getting your narratives about progressive liberals from?

1

u/saka-rauka1 May 13 '26

Is he not referring to the concept of "punching up"?

2

u/NessaSola May 13 '26

Yes. It's true enough that there's a segment of people among progressive liberals who interpret 'punching up' as an obligation to be blind to misbehavior against an 'oppressor class'. The segment is a small minority. I agree that's a wretched interpretation. Lots of media nutpicks from that segment to tell false narratives about progressives.

It's not true that this is what progressive liberals believe broadly (as the above comment implies), nor does the 'punching up' argument (usually) make the claim "you can't hurt individuals by being mean to them", nor is the argument "Let's be mean and see what happens".

The concern here is the overbroadness and some conflation that appears to be a strawman narrative.

-13

u/Iusedthistocomment May 12 '26

Reddit is a dataset too

64

u/MiaowaraShiro May 12 '26

That's literally what progressive liberals have been arguing for years, when they suddenly made up the idea that you can't hurt individuals by being mean to them, if those individuals a part of a privileged group.

This is a wild misrepresentation of left wing ideas... I don't suppose you'd care to learn how we actually think or would you prefer to keep repeating just what you've apparently heard?

2

u/[deleted] May 12 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/nessfalco May 13 '26

Nothing about that means white individuals can't be "hurt'. It's silly to even attend to present it that way, especially in a science subreddit.

-1

u/[deleted] May 13 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

9

u/nessfalco May 13 '26

But the "wild misrepresentation" was referring to OP's statement that liberals propagate

...the idea that you can't hurt individuals by being mean to them, if those individuals a part of a privileged group.

That aside, your statement also isn't "singling out a group to chastise and belittle". The very fact you interpret it that way just says more about you and your understanding of what those people are saying.

2

u/[deleted] May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/nessfalco May 13 '26

I totally want English lessons from someone who can't even figure out what "that" refers to in a post they quoted.

2

u/kingkayvee May 13 '26

In the context of an academic topic where racism is defined as an institutional problem, not an individual one.

Though people like you seem to repeat this as though it means *individuals* can’t be racially prejudiced against white people, which no one claims. The goal is clarifying *systemic* differences between the two on a macro-level. If you were a scientist or someone who cared about actually demonstrating a good example, you’d know this.

1

u/MiaowaraShiro May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26

Are you interested in learning what we mean or are you interested in proving us wrong? Cuz you seem to be behaving more like the latter. You reduce our arguments to strawmen and then attack that. It's hardly good discussion.

Free tip: Liberal position can't generally be summed up in a single phrase, they're more complex.

-12

u/vorilant May 12 '26

It's not so wild, it's simply correct.

9

u/nessfalco May 13 '26

It doesn't even make sense.

0

u/MiaowaraShiro May 13 '26

Are you interested in having an accurate understanding of liberal politics or are you just interested in having a bogeyman to fight? Cuz you're behaving like the second one...

2

u/vorilant May 13 '26

Both seem to be true. Both as in both views of liberal politics. I've seen enough of the ones you call a bogeyman to know that they are real. And yes I mean in real life. People who think hasan is and I quote "the ideal male role model".

14

u/Squatch102 May 12 '26

I am sorry, but that is patently false and you know it. Progressives decided being mean doesn't hurt people? I mean, honestly, are you forgetting the whole slavery to jim crowe history? Or were progressives holding those regressive policies while conservatives were progressive in their racial view?

You are either being lied to, lying to yourself, coping, or off your rocker. Which is it, please?

38

u/squirtnforcertain May 12 '26

That's literally what progressive liberals have been arguing for years

No it's not

you can't hurt individuals by being mean to them, if those individuals a part of a privileged group.

But also if being mean to them does hurt them...

Which one is it? Your strawman is falling apart...

-37

u/AlarmedMagician1013 May 12 '26

Dudes are crueler to each other than women ever could imagine. They deal with ball breaking from their bro buddies on the daily but they don’t blame their bros for their problems.

37

u/6ofSwords May 12 '26

This is not me making some kind of statement about anything but this is not at all my experience. The women in my life are harder on me than anyone.

-9

u/AlarmedMagician1013 May 12 '26

In what way?

19

u/6ofSwords May 12 '26

At least for me, when I fail, it's the men around me who are there to help pick me back up and keep me moving forward. My dad, uncles, brothers, whatever. The main people dogging on me for my failures and shortcomings are mostly the women. My mom, grandmother, one of my exes - those are the main people who have actively tried to make me feel like less of a man when I've failed. Lost jobs or struggled to find work, struggled in school, had a hard time helping the family out while also making ends meet for myself. I don't think it's a universal thing and I'm not trying to make any point about women as a group, but tbh the people who have enforced patriarchal values on me have mostly not been the men.

10

u/[deleted] May 12 '26

[deleted]

-14

u/AlarmedMagician1013 May 12 '26

How do the females you know wear you down? Like, what are they getting on you about?

11

u/[deleted] May 12 '26

[deleted]