Poll: Who has a higher pain tolerance; Men or Women

Hero in a half shell

It's not easy being green
Dec 30, 2009
4,286
0
0
I got into a debate with my sisters, about whether males or Females have a higher pain tolerance. They (obviously) said women do, and I (obviously) said men do. I argued that men are stronger, play more dangeous sports and that pain that would hurt her wouldn't hurt me, she brought up man flu, childbirth and periods. So, who had a higher pain tolerance?
 

DefunctTheory

Not So Defunct Now
Mar 30, 2010
6,438
0
0
Men.

Women have almost twice as many pain receptors as men. The only way they can make it through child birthing is by automatic doping in the brain.

Also, if I remember correctly, men have a larger adrenal gland, which helps to ignore pain in high stress scenarios.
 

Laser Priest

A Magpie Among Crows
Mar 24, 2011
2,013
0
0
The undead. They feel no pain.

And men generally seem built to withstand more punishment.
 

rokkolpo

New member
Aug 29, 2009
5,375
0
0
AccursedTheory said:
Men.

Women have almost twice as many pain receptors as men. The only way they can make it through child birthing is by automatic doping in the brain.

Also, if I remember correctly, men have a larger adrenal gland, which helps to ignore pain in high stress scenarios.
There it is.
 

rokkolpo

New member
Aug 29, 2009
5,375
0
0
Hero in a half shell said:
I got into a debate with my sisters, about whether males or Females have a higher pain tolerance. They (obviously) said women do, and I (obviously) said men do. I argued that men are stronger, play more dangeous sports and that pain that would hurt her wouldn't hurt me, she brought up man flu, childbirth and periods. So, who had a higher pain tolerance?
Be sure to tell them that childbirth and periods are invalid arguments because men can't have them.
So there is no way to find out.
 

Cpt_Oblivious

Not Dead Yet
Jan 7, 2009
6,933
0
0
AccursedTheory said:
Men.

Women have almost twice as many pain receptors as men. The only way they can make it through child birthing is by automatic doping in the brain.

Also, if I remember correctly, men have a larger adrenal gland, which helps to ignore pain in high stress scenarios.
Of course there are exceptions. You get some women who can take anything and men who can't stand any pain at all.

The world is weird.
 

Colour Scientist

Troll the Respawn, Jeremy!
Jul 15, 2009
4,722
0
0
I went with 'Terminators' because I honestly have no idea which sex has a higher pain threshold.

I know that a psychology PhD in my university did a study and a greater percentage of women were to be able to withstand the pain he inflicted on them (bet that was difficult to get past the ethics committee) longer than the males who partook but one study isn't exactly conclusive.
 

Dags90

New member
Oct 27, 2009
4,683
0
0
More studies have pointed towards men [http://health.msn.com/health-topics/pain-management/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100218149&page=1] than women, generally. Childbirth is a unique process that involves the release of many endorphins. Hell, many women give birth via C-section now, or with an epidural.

Overall there isn't any consensus.
 

DefunctTheory

Not So Defunct Now
Mar 30, 2010
6,438
0
0
Cpt_Oblivious said:
AccursedTheory said:
Men.

Women have almost twice as many pain receptors as men. The only way they can make it through child birthing is by automatic doping in the brain.

Also, if I remember correctly, men have a larger adrenal gland, which helps to ignore pain in high stress scenarios.
Of course there are exceptions. You get some women who can take anything and men who can't stand any pain at all.

The world is weird.
Of course you'll always find exceptions to the rules. But as it stands, the average man can handle more pain then the average women, simply because he has a lesser capacity to feel it, and a bigger tool to handle the pain if it does arise.
 

moretimethansense

New member
Apr 10, 2008
1,617
0
0
AccursedTheory said:
Men.

Women have almost twice as many pain receptors as men. The only way they can make it through child birthing is by automatic doping in the brain.

Also, if I remember correctly, men have a larger adrenal gland, which helps to ignore pain in high stress scenarios.
Sciance saves the day again, though on the other hand considering the increased pain recepters they can handle extermely hot objects better than men can.

I call it a toss.
 

kasperbbs

New member
Dec 27, 2009
1,855
0
0
I saw an episode of mythbusters where they did this test and women won, perhaps they went easy on them or maybe the ladies tried harder, who knows.
 

Not-here-anymore

In brightest day...
Nov 18, 2009
3,028
0
0
There's a more important question here - which hurts more - getting kicked in the balls, or childbirth?

The answer's simple - ever seen a guy ask to get kicked in the balls again 9 months down the line?
 

Not-here-anymore

In brightest day...
Nov 18, 2009
3,028
0
0
rokkolpo said:
Hero in a half shell said:
I got into a debate with my sisters, about whether males or Females have a higher pain tolerance. They (obviously) said women do, and I (obviously) said men do. I argued that men are stronger, play more dangeous sports and that pain that would hurt her wouldn't hurt me, she brought up man flu, childbirth and periods. So, who had a higher pain tolerance?
Be sure to tell them that childbirth and periods are invalid arguments because men can't have them.
So there is no way to find out.
Also man flu, because women can't have it. That shit is bad, and they have no idea just how bad.
 

Hero in a half shell

It's not easy being green
Dec 30, 2009
4,286
0
0
Currently both women, men and terminators are tied for first with 6 votes apiece. This is why I love the Escapist forums.
My sister said at the end of the arguement that men could deal with external pain better, and women could deal with internal pain better.
 

Colour Scientist

Troll the Respawn, Jeremy!
Jul 15, 2009
4,722
0
0
J03bot said:
There's a more important question here - which hurts more - getting kicked in the balls, or childbirth?

The answer's simple - ever seen a guy ask to get kicked in the balls again 9 months down the line?
Actually, most women go through a psychological process where they forget how painful childbirth is. Not all women of course, but it's quite common that women will underestimate the level of pain they experienced a matter of years after the event.

It's probably evolutions way of convincing us to go through it again.
Also men don't go through it again because a kick in the nuts is a kick in the nuts, it only gives you extreme pain, childbirth gives you extreme pain followed by a baby.
 

Ickorus

New member
Mar 9, 2009
2,887
0
0
Apparently after childbirth women have a much higher pain tolerance but beforehand probably men for reasons stated above.
 

bassdrum

jygabyte!
Oct 6, 2009
654
0
0
It's kind of hard to say, really. I've never been a woman, so I can't really give an actual comparison--and pain is subjective, so there's no real way to quantifiably and objectively measure pain and pain tolerance. That said, men are stereotypically putting themselves into harms way more frequently (i.e. contact sports, redneck-style stunts, warfare)--although whether that has to do with pain tolerance or bull-headed idiocy I don't know (and I don't want to get into gender roles either).

In the end, though, I think I'm going to just say that you can't really draw a line by gender--I think it's more of an individual thing. I've seen both men and women drop into hysterics over a stubbed toe and I've seen both men and women take dislocated joints in stride.