Gender Differences in Pain.

[Chairman Miaow]

Recently there was a fairly controversial thread regarding male superiority to women. One argument to the contrary is that women have a higher pain threshold than men and this simply isn't true. There are a lot of things women are better at than men, but this isn't one of them.

A more detailed study:
http://paingeneticslab.ca/4105/03_03_sex_differences.asp

and a more easily digestible version:
http://health.msn.com/health-topics/pain-management/do-women-have-a-higher-pain-threshold

This is just one of those sort of old wives tales that really bothers me, are there any things that people tend to quote as undeniable truth that actually aren't? because I know I've done it before and I would hate to think I still do it.

 

[DanielBrown]

That we only use 10% of our brain is a pretty common thing I see people throwing around them.
I believe that was proven to be false a long time ago, though I don't have any sources.

 

[Trull]

I personally believe all people are different. On average, men have higher strength, and on average, women will complain more and be all - uhhh... To the point, I believe it's the external pressures of society that dictate it. If everyone believe women were stronger, in a generation or two, on average, women WOULD be stronger. My three cents.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

That we only use 10% of our brain is a pretty common thing I see people throwing around them.
I believe that was proven to be false a long time ago, though I don't have any sources.

Yeah that does seem a very odd one, especially with all the studies analysing brain activity, and if you just list the areas they talk about it sounds like WAAAAY more than 10%.

 

[tologna]

Consider the follwing:
http://xkcd.com/915/
"Our brains have one scale, and we resize our experiences to fit."
Not saying it's true, just an interesting thought.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

I personally believe all people are different. On average, men have higher strength, and on average, women will complain more and be all - uhhh... To the point, I believe it's the external pressures of society that dictate it. If everyone believe women were stronger, in a generation or two, on average, women WOULD be stronger. My three cents.

It's amazing how far confidence and self-belief can get a person but I had never considered it on a societal level. I don't know about it really, because if that were true, surely women by now would be rather dim and weak because of all the oppression?

 

[Chairman Miaow]

Consider the follwing:
http://xkcd.com/915/
"Our brains have one scale, and we resize our experiences to fit."
Not saying it's true, just an interesting thought.

I love that comic, and while I do think that probably is true, I wouldn't go quite so far as the Joe Biden sandwich eating.

 

[Dogstile]

I think its more about gender roles that still exist (edit: they do, if you think they don't, go outside and listen to people), so people have a confirmation bias. If they see a woman dealing with pain, they'll think "that's normal, women can do that" whereas if they see a no doubt fine male specimen such as myself (trollololol) dealing with pain they'll just think its the exception because of a preconceived notion.

 

[Something Amyss]

That we only use 10% of our brain is a pretty common thing I see people throwing around them.
I believe that was proven to be false a long time ago, though I don't have any sources.

Pretty sure it's not that it's false, but misinterpreted.

The thing isn't so much we only use 10% of our brain, but that normal brain activity is about 10-15%. Meaning we use 10-15% at a time.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

That we only use 10% of our brain is a pretty common thing I see people throwing around them.
I believe that was proven to be false a long time ago, though I don't have any sources.

http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100253379

Not exactly a research paper, but it's something.

 

[Something Amyss]

I think its more about gender roles that still exist (edit: they do, if you think they don't, go outside and listen to people), so people have a confirmation bias. If they see a woman dealing with pain, they'll think "that's normal, women can do that" whereas if they see a no doubt fine male specimen such as myself (trollololol) dealing with pain they'll just think its the exception because of a preconceived notion.

Or more, "women give birth, that has to hurt," and therefore assume that women have a high pain threshold.

 

[Batou667]

Here's a question. What hurts more, giving birth, or being kicked in the nuts?

 

[Chairman Miaow]

Here's a question. What hurts more, giving birth, or being kicked in the nuts?

Giving birth, obviously.

 

[JesterRaiin]

Here's a question. What hurts more, giving birth, or being kicked in the nuts?

(...i believe there's joke about it...)
Kick in the nuts is more painful. How do we know it ?
Because some women want to have another baby immediately after giving birth, and there's no single documented occurence of anyone wishing to be kicked in the nuts again.

 

[oooooooooooooooooooooooooo]

OT: I find it annoying when people claim that being out in the cold weather causes the "common cold"... It does not. I mean, how in the world can you get infected by a virus from cold weather? Silly people...

If Alan Davies is to be believed, then it is because the virus cannot activate above a certain temperature, so it sits dormant in your nose until you are in the cold, then it activates.

 

[FateOrFatality]

That we only use 10% of our brain is a pretty common thing I see people throwing around them.
I believe that was proven to be false a long time ago, though I don't have any sources.

Yep, because different parts of our brains do different things. As Cracked puts it, saying we "only" use 10% of our brain is like saying that a pianist only use 10% of the keys on a piano at a time, and the song would be better if he just mashed all the keys down at the same time.

 

[somonels]

OT: I find it annoying when people claim that being out in the cold weather causes the "common cold"... It does not. I mean, how in the world can you get infected by a virus from cold weather? Silly people...

If Alan Davies is to be believed, then it is because the virus cannot activate above a certain temperature, so it sits dormant in your nose until you are in the cold, then it activates.

He's right, not all bacteria find body-temperature ideal.

Men's pain threshold is higher because we beat each other for a decade. Women, on the other hand, start squealing about pain the moment you firmly grip their wrist.

 

[oooooooooooooooooooooooooo]

Alan Davies... I guess you do not mean the comedian right? I have never heard of that hypothesis though, may I ask for a link so I can read more about this?

But then I would like to know how you can get the common cold, even during heatwaves. So again, if you have a link I would really like to read more about Alan's saying.

I do mean the comedian, he mentioned it on an episode of QI, so there is not really much to link you to, sorry.

 

[Matt Dellar]

The 10% of the brain thing, I usually relate to a computer processor. If your computer ever uses 100% at a time, it's gonna run stupidly slow and you should probably upgrade.

Also, societal influence holds no bearing on which gender is stronger. That's purely genetic.

 

[Freaky Lou]

This basically sums everything up.