Which Sex is Most Resilient?

[Sunstone]

In general, is there a significant difference between men and women when it comes to their emotional or psychological resilience upon facing setbacks and/or hardships? If so, which sex is overall significantly more resilient than the other? Why?

By "resilience", I mean the ability to emotionally bounce back or recover from a setback or hardship such that one's emotional and psychological well being is restored.

BONUS QUESTION: If you think there is a significant difference between men and woman when it comes to their psychological or emotional resilience, do you also think there is a significant difference between men and women when it comes to their physical resilience -- that is, the speed and extent to which they heal from physical injuries?

 

[Ana.J]

I think man are designed to be stronger physically and emotionally. They are more stress resistant due to different hormonal balance.

 

[Laika]

Voted female folk. Here's what happens when dudes simulate labour pains.

Thank god I'm a dude. Biology is so cruel.

 

[Ana.J]

Voted female folk. Here's what happens when dudes simulate labour pains.

Thank god I'm a dude. Biology is so cruel.

That is pain. We are biologically more resilient to pain and this is true as we need to give birth. But the question was more about emotional and psychological aspect, not physical one.

 

[Laika]

That is pain. We are biologically more resilient to pain and this is true as we need to give birth. But the question was more about emotional and psychological aspect, not physical one.

Opps. Ok.

Honestly, given the way the western standards of masculinity emotionally represses and inhibit men, I'm still go with women.

If men cry its treated as weakness even though its entirely natural response to being upset. So we just bury it and pretend its not there. Thats not really resilent as that depends on finding healthy ways to deal with you emotions authentically. I'm assuming women dont have that problem but at the same time western female gender roles are at least as screwed up if not more so.

 

[Ana.J]

Opps. Ok.

Honestly, given the way the western standards of masculinity emotionally represses and inhibit men, I'm still go with women.

If men cry its treated as weakness even though its entirely natural response to being upset. So we just bury it and pretend its not there. Thats not really resilent as that depends on finding healthy ways to deal with you emotions authentically. I'm assuming women dont have that problem but at the same time western female gender roles are at least as screwed up if not more so.

Oh yes....It is a plague of our time...we have switched roles and now men have become feminine and women - more masculine.

 

[Laika]

Oh yes....It is a plague of our time...we have switched roles and now men have become feminine and women - more masculine.

Lol. Very true. My dad (aged 66) is still uncomfortable with me hugging him whereas its "sort of" more acceptable for guys now. Though it was my dad that stayed at home and did the garden and the cooking whilst my mun had the paid job as an art teacher, which is still an odd reversal even today I think.

 

[Jumi]

Having read about some extremely resilient people and also having known some of both sexes, I think we all come with tremendous inner strength but society and modern living manage to spoil those instincts for many of us.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

Based on my experience and learned knowledge, I see no differences between male and female on this axis.

 

[HonestJoe]

In general, is there a significant difference between men and women when it comes to their emotional or psychological resilience upon facing setbacks and/or hardships? If so, which sex is overall significantly more resilient than the other? Why?

I don’t think so. There may be some general trend one way or another, though maybe more in different ways in which men and women deal with such things rather than how well they do. I think the scale and scope of differences between individuals of the same gender is much greater than any general difference between the genders overall.

I also think this kind of thing is massively complicated by all the social, cultural and personal expectations and trends, were some people might seek to appear as if they’re dealing with emotional situations much better than they actually are and won’t admit to struggling currently or in past instances.

 

[Revoltingest]

Having read about some extremely resilient people and also having known some of both sexes, I think we all come with tremendous inner strength but society and modern living manage to spoil those instincts for many of us.

Of course, the objective test of resilience would be to drop males & females
from a height (say....10 feet), & measure how high each one bounces.
Without such a quantitative measure, I don't see any difference.

 

[idav]

I think man are designed to be stronger physically and emotionally. They are more stress resistant due to different hormonal balance.

These hormone differences also make men more prone to anger and violence. That makes women more resilient emotionally. Also men are said to die earlier than men mainly due to stress so not sure we are resistant so much, just mainly suppressed causing undue stress.

Anyhow I'm not sure where that balance is, sure woman may be prone to crying first but clobbering someone in the head first isn't exactly more resilient. Probably would need to lower both estrogen and testosterone cause men are women are emotionally unstable with either.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I'd say women are generally more resilient, as they seem to have a greater tendency to make their own lives harder, which results in them having more practice at having to endure suffering.

 

[psychoslice]

We are who we are, male and female do have some differences, and we should not compare each other to those differences, we should compliment each other in our differences, to argue who is better is childish.

 

[Smart_Guy]

Phew... from the titles I thought it was about sex "positions".

Anyway, I never had sex before so I don't know. I'll see the answers of the experienced.

Bonus answer:
I think women have more tolerance to physical pain than men. Men are useless.

 

[Penumbra]

I don't notice a difference in magnitude for psychological resilience. Qualitatively, women seem more likely to react to problems with sadness/crying while menseem more likely to react with irrational levels of anger or misapplied anger.

I've seen some studies both ways in terms of physical resilience. Women statistically are more sensitive to sensations, but other evidence shows paradoxically increased ability to withstand extreme pain, like a rough childbirth.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

We're rolling with massive generalizations here, of course. I've met plenty who don't fit any sort of mold, but in the interest of trying to answer...

Men seem to verbalise petty inconveniences less. That might be cultural more than anything, I suspect. It can give the impression that small stuff doesn't bother them so much, but I'm not sure if that's just due to the lower level of verbalisation.
And that same lack of verbalisation could easily be a contributing factor in higher suicide rates for males.
So...they're different, but I don't really know who's more resilient.

Of course, Australian women have the rest of the world covered.
(just never can tell if my wife decides to log in here one day...)

 

[gnomon]

I would say the intersex are the most resilient.