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We don't just model ourselves to attract a mate. Men often wish to appear more masculine so as to intimidate other men, for example. This effect is absent fro
by retrac 2y ago
We don't just model ourselves to attract a mate. Men often wish to appear more masculine so as to intimidate other men, for example. This effect is absent from most discussions about preferences and self-image.
- deadbabe 2y agoThis is why the most dangerous men often don’t look like much. Because they don’t need to use their appearance to defend themselves through intimidation.
- demosthanos 2y agoIt depends on how you define dangerous—some of the most dangerous men in history have been dangerous in part because of how insecure they are. That's how you get men like Putin, putting on an extremely self-conscious show of masculinity while slaughtering hundreds of thousands. Obviously not every schoolyard bully gets an army and a navy to play with, but they're all dangerous in their own ways, and that danger often stems from a self-conscious desire to project power.
- Teever 2y agoI don't think that's the lesson from Putin. Putin's propaganda features these absurd strongman displays of masculinity because it works, it's a very well known and ancient exploit in the human mind and societies as a whole. I'm sure Putin would prefer to do the evil things he does without having to do the whole song and dance of propaganda.
- farseer 2y agoSome Western leaders who killed hundreds of thousands including Bush II, Obama etc did not have to put on a masculinity display. The web of lies weaved by traditional media and vested interests gave a good enough cover.
- brookst 2y agoI’m not following this. While intimidation certainly has many dimensions, I don’t see why not looking like much makes them better able to defend themselves? Or be dangerous? Unless you’re talking poisoners and embezzlers and the like who don’t need to warn because they don’t engage in direct conflict.
- deadbabe 2y agoKnowing how to fight or carrying a deadly weapon doesn’t require you to look threatening.
- brookst 2y agoYes, but the expected outcome of being in a fight or pulling a deadly weapon is much worse than the expected outcome of not being in a fight in the first place. I get you; someone can look helpless but be packing a Desert Eagle .50 and prepared to use it in any trouble. I don’t see how that is an advantage over not looking helpless, unless the idea is to attract trouble and then kill it.
- deadbabe 2y agoIt doesn’t have to be an advantage, it just is what it is.
- wodenokoto 2y agoI think phrases along the lines of "Women don't wear makeup for men, but for other women" or "Guys lifting weights ends up doing it to impress the guys at the gym, not girls at the club" are thrown around and are in line with the effect you say is absent about preference and self image.
- whamlastxmas 2y agoWomen definitely respond a lot to muscle
- crotobloste 2y agoThis is an interesting take. When I taught low-income Muslim students from North Africa I was told that having a beard (which I already had) would help to establish myself as a figure of authority, as they would associate it with their conception of what a "scholarly figure" looks like. Similarly, women in both Academia and the corporate world have told me that they had chosen not to dye their graying hair in order to consolidate their image as a "serious, professional woman".