Is your man being wired to prefer sexual submission?

[LOUANN BRIZENDINE]

Is it because the media is portraying men the way feminist ideals say they should be--being more respectful and consensus-building than cave-man like? What is going on here since studies show that most men are aroused by being dominant not submissive. We know that both male and female brains come installed with both the "male" and "female" subcortical circuits--and then the sex-specific hormones at puberty --AND the culture/society/current customs activate one or the other. Could it be that our current culture is activating the more submissive circuits nowadays in the male brain?

[Joel Huber]

I think that is the aim of contemporary culture. Instead of educating boys I believe we criticize boys, traumatizing them to become the weaker sex.

[LOUANN BRIZENDINE]

How could we support boys in learning to be their best and thrive int he world today?

[Randall Noel Pipes]

How about the idea that in today's society, men feel less dominate because women feel more independent and thus more confident in their futures. They have more control over their lives and can be more discriminate in their decisions about relationships. Men, therefore, must be more persuasive in their courtship rituals because women can decide on their own who will be their mate without family or societal pressures or traditions.

[LOUANN BRIZENDINE]

So how are men these days able to be, as you say, 'more persuasive' in their courtship rituals?

[Randall Noel Pipes]

As much as anything that men can do in today's society, time seems to be a major factor. Women, as well as men, are waiting longer for marriage and children than a generation ago. So I would believe that patience is very important in the courtship ritual. Of course, it is important to understand and accept that many women have careers of their own that they are nurturing and that marriage and children are not a primary concern, especially early in their careers. The primal desires and natural courtship hormones still exist and values and traditional family ideas of gender roles still can upset or enhance the courtship.

[LOUANN BRIZENDINE]

It may also be that this time-factor makes men more mature by the time they become fathers. Since in OUR culture it is the women who choose to accept or reject the man, in just one generation the type of man who fathers the most children may also change?

[Randall Noel Pipes]

Absolutely. Waiting longer does help with maturity.Clarify your point of the" type of man". Still today and with the economy becoming a world wide concern, there will be more less affluent or poor among us and they tend to have the most children without the benefits of birth control and family planning.

[Amy Nguyen]

Or, is it that men are reacting to the feminist woman with male efficiency? If women can now supply the money and leadership, can't men can just sit back and enjoy? Add to that the number of single parent families in the last two decades where mom is instilling feminist values to boys and girls without dad's point of view?

[Amy Nguyen]

Randall, I noticed you did not answer Dr. Brizendine's question of how men are more persuasive in courtship unless you are only referring to marriage and children. I would wager that those patient men are already living with and having sex with their women, so what are they being patient about, or where is the courtship in that?

 

As to the demographic of the "type of man", I agree that the lower income/education bracket yields more children. Curious to this discussion is that those tend to have more traditional sex roles as well.

[LOUANN BRIZENDINE]

Is mom instilling feminist values to boys and girls without dad's point of view as Amt suggests or is it that kids watch their moms going to work and paying all the bills and they grow up thinking that is the usual mom's role?: