"Women are only less violent because they are physically weak"

submitted by DifferentAirGC from self.GenderCritical

I've heard arguments that women commit less violence because it's hard for us to overpower our victims. Some say that if we were as strong as men, we would be just as violent as them. I know the point I'm gonna make is not flawless, but I was thinking about animal abuse.

It's easy to attack a pet, they are usually smaller and weaker and they can be tied to stop them from fighting back. Women and men have equal possibilities here, so you'd think they would commit the same amount of animal abuse.

Nope. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232428619_Gender_and_Nonhuman_Animal_Cruelty_Convictions_Data_from_Pet-Abuse_com

-Of these cases, 259 involved men and nine involved women, a sex ratio of 29 to one (g = -0.47). Similar results were obtained by Gerbasi (2004) in an analysis of press reports of animal abuse listed on petabuse.com, an Internet site that tracks press reports of animal abuse cases

-On the other hand, research consistently shows that men are more likely than women to engage in acts of animal cruelty

-When it comes to animal abuse, this is indeed the case. Gerbasi (2004) reviewed gender differences in media reports of animal abuse convictions. The male/female ratios were as follows: beating, 38 to 1; shooting , 16 to 1; mutilation/torture, 20 to 1; and burning, 17 to 1.

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[–]fuckingsealions 33 insightful - 1 fun33 insightful - 0 fun34 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Animal abuse is a good counter argument. Also, child abuse happens, but by this logic, why are women not beating and murdering children constantly?

[–]yishengqingwa666 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/

[–]Doobeedoo661 31 insightful - 1 fun31 insightful - 0 fun32 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Not at all surprised by these statistics. If you have a good relationship with your local vet, just ask them outright if males are more inclined to abuse their pets, I’m certain they’ll say yes.

I remember my vet inquiring whether my husband and I were interested in taking on a kitten who’d been injured and subsequently surrender by a woman, who was also physically assaulted by her partner when she tried to protect the kitten.

We were floored and couldn’t believe this was a “thing”. He looked at me and I’ll never forget his reply, “everyday, this happens everyday”. He went on to explain women and children often surrendered their pets in fear of the violence and verbal threats males extended towards the family pets.

My husband and I adopted the kitten who is now 45 months old and thriving, but I’ve been haunted by that conversation ever since.

[–]macaron 16 insightful - 2 fun16 insightful - 1 fun17 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

Everyday? No way... Seriously, men were made wrong. Wtf.

[–]yishengqingwa666 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

https://icemountainfire.wordpress.com/2014/11/17/men-are-not-broken/

[–]peregrine_throw 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Like u/macaron, the frequency you mention is shocking.

[–]womenopausal 22 insightful - 1 fun22 insightful - 0 fun23 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Abusive men will often kill pets as a way to terrorise women. I had a friend whose abusive ex had her perfectly healthy cat put down just to show his power. Pet abuse is included on UK risk assessments to as an indicator of potential severity.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

The opposite is so common it even has a name: a bunny boiler.

[–]Irascible-harpy 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Because it's common, or is the name based on a scene from an old movie and now it refers to any woman who gets emotional or unstable at the end of a relationship? Do you have examples of women killing men's pets as they leave relationships? I'm sure it happens, but I cannot think of a single example, whereas I know of several situations where the sexes were reversed.

[–]yishengqingwa666 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It's not, though, and that is from a movie and not real life.

[–]RoundFork 20 insightful - 1 fun20 insightful - 0 fun21 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This is a really good comparison, thanks for the resource.

Nobody claims that women couldn’t be vicious abusers, but males having 16 to 38 TIMES the tendency... ya, men couldn’t complain when they’re less trusted than women. It’s a bias, sure, but for good reason.

[–]MezozoicGay 12 insightful - 3 fun12 insightful - 2 fun13 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

So at first they are releasing paedo from prison because "now he is on estrogen and will be more calm", and then saying "estrogen is not making people more calm". Where is any consistency?

[–]Realwoman 10 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 0 fun11 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I'm sure the fact that men are stronger is part of it. But men are also more aggressive and more prone to violence. It's both things.

[–]jet199 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Also more risk taking due to testosterone. Being violent brings a risk to your own safety.

[–]NecessaryScene1 7 insightful - 5 fun7 insightful - 4 fun8 insightful - 5 fun -  (3 children)

Some say that if we were as strong as men, we would be just as violent as them.

If my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle.

[–]Feather 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Yeah, exactly. The biological features and processes that make men, well, men, would mean women were men if we were born with that biology. They're basically saying, "Women are only less violent because they aren't men."

Yeah, no shit.

[–]NecessaryScene1 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yep, that was my point. That's the fundamental truth.

To steelman the argument though, then yes, maybe there might well be some statistical correlation within each sex between strength and propensity to commit violence. But I'd be willing to wager quite a lot that if you could isolate top end females and bottom end males to find individuals with the "same" strength, the males would be more violent.

In terms of evolutionary or societal success, the combo "violent + weak" is never going to be a winner, so you would only expect violent tendencies to arise as nature and/or nuture in a group that on average has the strength to back it up.

A female individual who is a strength outlier /might/ choose to be more violent, consciously knowing that they as an individual are capable of it, but that seems less likely a factor than just being part of the normally-stronger group and hence being predisposed by nature or nuture.

[–]3MistersAndAMissy 3 insightful - 4 fun3 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 4 fun -  (0 children)

Are we still allowed to use the word ‘Aunt’?

I’m sure Uncle is fine, but just not sure about A-nt. /s

[–]emissch 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Men tend to be on average: more anti-social, higher sex drives, more aggressive, more violent and more impulsive and prone to risk taking. I do think biology and hormonal differences between males and females play a role in this behavior. Being larger and stronger just gives them the maximum possible damage to all of the above traits I just mentioned. This is also true across multiple animal species, not just humans and it's all about the sex hormones.

[–]yousaythosethings 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

If it was just about physical strength then we'd see more cases of stronger women attacking weaker women. But we don't see that.

[–]macaron 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I mean clearly only adult humans exist on this planet. Yeah nothing that women could overpower.

[–]MezozoicGay 12 insightful - 4 fun12 insightful - 3 fun13 insightful - 4 fun -  (0 children)

adult humans

You mean adult men.

As, you know, 50% of population are women, so women could just overpower other women, and yet, for some reason (what a surprise) they don't and for some reason (double surprised face) male authors only considered adult men half of the population.

[–]yishengqingwa666 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Haha, no. We are just better people.

[–]cybitch 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

This is actually true, but not in the way they think. Evolution-wise, violence gives men a reproductive advantage, because they do not carry the offspring in their bodies. They can afford to take the risk of injury and still pass on their genes. Women's ability to pass on our genes is directly linked to our physical safety as the fetus has to survive in our bodies for nearly a year. Not to mention it is still helpless for a long while afterwards. The genes of women who had the temperament of men simply couldn't have survived in a prehistorical society.

[–]yishengqingwa666 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Haha, sure.