Are men naturally less empathetic than women?

[msc545]

[MisterWack]

I know we can fix empathy by teaching it to children early in life so, they are on the right path. Learning it along side girls and fellow boys will not make this a “masculinity” or “femininity” thing that the culture wars and toxic politics try to push on adults.

You instill these good behavioral traits at a young age, reinforce them throughout their childhood and it helps them grow, connect, develop on social skills and build meaningful positive relationships with friends, family, strangers, and more.

Personally, men are less empathetic than women however it doesn’t have to be this way if we put in the time, resources, and build positive habits that care about our fellow people.

[NathanDavis]

generally speaking

if you're talking about nature, and that's... biology,

then yes... women and oxytocin, all other hormones, giving birth, breastfeeding is called MOTHERHOOD, for a reason

nature decided that women would be the mothers, while the fathers might be there, or not... lol

[msc545]

Nobody knows for sure, but we believe that the phenomenon or experience of empathy is mediated by mirror neurons, which are a particular type of neuron in the brain that responds to the various stimuli provided by other people. That stimuli could be visual or could be verbal, or a combination of different stimuli modalities.

[NathanDavis]

I know one thing... after I started to foster cats, kittens, back in 2019

I've have developed a super-ear since... and can hear their calls from quite far away, lol

[msc545]

I'm the same way with my own cats. In fact, depending on the pitch and tone and many other things about their meows, I can tell you which cat it is very quickly. For instance, my cat Allister has a very distinct high-pitched chirp, whereas my cat Angel is a little bit deeper and slower but still sounds great.

Thank you very much for having the kindness to foster cats. My cats and I are very much fans of that, but I have three of them, so I can't really foster others. We all appreciate the fact that you do this.

[NathanDavis]

yeah.. it's like each of them have their own call, and they do, lol

I also have three cats, and a rescue dog, so now... I can't foster as many nor as for long, but I can still manage to do some here and there

[msc545]

How do your cats deal with the foster kittens?

[NathanDavis]

very well, actually

I do have a 7yo female, she's had her own kittens twice before, when younger... so she does very well with very young kittens, as long she has her own food, she doesn't mind others around, lol... but like most queens, when the kittens are older enough and go hyper she just goes somewhere high to not be bothered

I have a 5yo male, which is huge but very gentle and extremely patient with kittens, he grew up around the fosters, so he's used to "take care of them" and play with them without hurting them, lol

and then, the 4to female, that is forever a kitten... likes to play with them a lot, so she's good company for them

my cats grew up used to neighbors and family, my friends coming over often and sometimes with their own pets so they can relax around others, even dogs

but, BUT... I can't trust that 24/7 because of cycles and all that... sometimes the hormones and instincts take over so I just don't want to risk it much or at all

[msc545]

Thank you very much for that detailed report. I was curious because part of the reason I don't have foster kittens or kittens at all at this point is because Angus is my three-year-old Scottish Fold who is not altered and can be pretty aggressive at times. I worry that if Angus was around small kittens, he might not be as friendly as I would like him to be. Angus is a very sweet cat about 99% of the time, but it's that other 1% of the time and the fact that he's not altered that worries me.

[NathanDavis]

yeah, that could be trouble... my male is not "fixed" either so I always had to be close and around in case some instincts do hit, even if he grew up among smaller than him kittens when he was young, he had to learn to play with them because part of those instincts is to also play fight, and chase and all that lmao

but yeah, I would be more careful or just nor risk it, if there's an adult male around that has not been sharing "territory" with new kittens

[RandomGirl42]

Not naturally "less", just differently. Of course, society plays a role and all that BUT the bottom line is men and women are just wired different. Duh. Lol.

And I asked AI , not 'cuz I didn't know but 'cuz I figured it would word it better than me instead of a whole 10 pages of stuff like I'm typing now.

4. Different expressions of empathy
Some researchers distinguish between:

Emotional empathy (sharing feelings)
Cognitive empathy (understanding another’s perspective)
Men sometimes score similarly or even higher on cognitive empathy in certain contexts (e. g., problem-solving, protective responses), while women tend to score higher on emotional empathy.

[Simslover92]

Not the men I know. They are very empathetic. But I can't speak for every man. Just the ones I've encountered.

[MontBlanc]

I wouldn’t say men are naturally less empathetic.

I think empathy just shows up differently in different people.

Some are taught to express it openly, others are taught to suppress it and that often has more to do with upbringing than biology.

Reducing it to gender feels a bit too simple to me.

I’m more interested in emotional maturity than whether someone is a man or a woman.

[Berethor]

Yes, men are hunters by nature, while women's main role is to take care of babies.

https://allthetropes.org/wiki/A_Real_Man_Is_a_Killer

[slatyb]

Only if they are raised that way. In some communities empathy is a virtue for both men and women.

[Anonymous]

No. But men by there very role in life are discouraged from indulging such feelings. I'm not saying men don't feel and I'm not suggesting that men are robotic. I'm simply saying men are expected to maintain a stoic demeanor. So men are just as empathetic as women, they're just discouraged from a showing it.

[Spencer10]

I think there may be something to this. But that does not mean men cannot work on improving their empathy.

[msc545]

I don't think the people understand that an empathic response to a particular situation is very often excruciatingly painful. It is also an involuntary response.

[msc545]

A person cannot work on it as you suggest. I wish they could, but you either have it or you don't.

[Spencer10]

Again I disagree. I have worked on it... shaped my thinking over time. My empathy is much stronger than it was even 5 years ago.

[msc545]

I'm not sure what you're working on, but you cannot create new mirror neurons.

[beefcakebradybatson]

Usually (especially white men) because they're socialized to be competitive, not collaborative.

[exitseven]

No a lot of guys are empatheitc. I am very empathetic.

[msc545]

LOL!

[justkate]

Based on my personal experiences yes they are, but everyone’s different.

[Staximus]

It's in our dna