Are men more violent than women?

Yes, but it’s not their fault.
Men are not born naturally more violent and aggressive than women, as is conventionally emphasized in most societies. Our biology, is in fact, more forgiving and diverse in terms of all our capabilities (physical, emotional, psychological, etc.); it is culture that is more restrictive is establishing standards for what men and women can and cannot do, think, or behave. Joshua Goldstein, the author of War and Gender, calls attention to this notion that society is more limiting than our natural states: “…where biological gender gives us overlapping bell-curves, cultural gender amputates these curves and gives us squared-off boxes containing all, and only a certain category of person” (Goldstein 252). Culture skews the apparent, but certainly not the most significant, biological differences among men and women, and amplifies them so that they give power to one group over another. This is classically exemplified in the notion that all men are stronger than women, therefore they are more powerful. Goldstein argues that because most men believe they possess superior power, they are vulnerable to being molded into a warrior. A militaristic lifestyle, he argues, fuels their distorted sense of masculinity and willingness to be violent. The military is a breeding ground for power and domination, two things men are eager to attain, as they reinforce, in their own eyes and the eyes of society, their masculinity. It is important to note that masculinity is constructed to be not like something else, namely, femininity. Men are strong and aggressive, not weak and passive. Men are brave and unfeeling, not timid and emotionally expressive. Of course, it is impossible to not feel things like fear and anxiety and pressure, but it is possible to block their expression. Being violent provides men an avenue to express forbidden, “feminine” emotions that have been compounded for years. They unleash on women, other men, and themselves. I’ve started to wonder, who can blame them? I’d go crazy if I wasn’t allowed to vocalize or somehow show that I was feeling scared or vulnerable, sad or confused, etc.