I mean statistically as a whole, not referring to any specific individuals.
Across 128 domains of the mind and behavior, “78% of gender differences are small or close to zero.” A recent addition to that list is leadership, where men feel more confident but women are rated as more competent.
There are only a handful of areas with large sex differences: men are physically stronger and more physically aggressive, masturbate more, and are more positive on casual sex.
If you combine
physically stronger
more physically aggressive
masturbate more
more positive on casual sex
… it’s not hard to see where the relative disparity comes from, is it?
And again, these are all verified studies based on aggregate data, from an article stating how men and women are pretty much the same (which I totally agree with!) … except in these very specific areas.
I feel the gathered scientific data based on observed behaviors is more reliable than individual opinions, especially when it comes to sexuality. That said, I absolutely agree there can be statistical outliers in both directions. You could be one. I could be one.
Beyond that, agree to disagree?
Just on a personal note, so I can share my story – I really don’t tell people how interested in sex I actually am around the clock, because I think if I did, it would scare them. It kinda scares me, to be honest.
Thank you for an interesting and well argued comment on an essential aspect of gender related perceptions.
And, for the record, I never said that women are less interested in sex than men. I just pointed out that the differences in response rates are accounted for in scientific studies.
I know they are not: I have been there. Usually, when I put a clown smiley in my posts, that means I am not entirely serious…
Edit: following that message, I realize that I might have hurt involuntarily the poster and posted a message of excuse. That message was deleted with a dozen others. I would like to reiterate my excuses here: the “purity movement” is worth worrying about and just answering with a joke was not entirely appropriate.
Just don’t engage me on subjects that have anything to do with women, gender or sexuality anymore, please. Trying to converse with you about such subjects is completely futile.
The concept that “physically stronger” and “more physically aggressive” correlate to “more interested in sex” is troublesome. That’s part of what the whole incel culture is about.
But setting that aside, interest in casual sex is not equivalent to interest in sex. If casual sex for men carried a non-trivial risk of date rape, pregnancy, or murder, men’s interest in sex might not change, but I suspect their behaviour might.
Let’s try an analogy:
Adam and Bella both appreciate food and enjoy eating. Adam likes MacDonald’s and drops in most days to wolf down a Big Mac. Bella likes to visit a neighborhood restaurant and sit down to a leisurely dinner a couple of times a week. Question: Who is more interested in food and spends more time thinking about it, Adam or Bella?
Answer: Trick question. Based on observed behaviour, we have no way of knowing whose interest is greater.
I’d say being more aggressive about a greater interest in sex, is what they combine into. Particularly once you factor in the statistics that show males have a much higher rate of masturbation, which is a direct proxy for sex.
Wait a second. So Bella only eats twice a week? She doesn’t eat anything outside this particular restauraunt, and only twice a week? I’d say whoever eats more food, more often, has a greater interest in eating.
The analogy is problematic because you have to eat to survive, which isn’t true of sex. Well, except in the greater holistic “human race needs to survive” sense.
Surely we are talking about sex between two (or more) people here, or what are those incels all worked up about?
But if we are gauging interest by masturbation, take a stroll through your local sex shop, or just google it, and see what percentage of the toys on offer are for women and couples, and what percentage for men. Women are keeping that industry afloat.
Only 7.9 percent of women between the ages of 25 and 29 masturbate two to three times a week whereas 23.4 percent of men do.
That’s a 3x gender difference.
Just to clarify, my position* is that part of this friction* we’re seeing with “incels” (which is profoundly dumb and misguided, to be clear) is the natural disparity in the relative velocity between men and women on interest in sex. Women are interested in sex, for sure, but men are overly interested in sex … and kinda jerks about it (see: aggression). The whole dumb incel thing is another manifestation of that difference in velocity.
