Poll: Who has a higher pain tolerance; Men or Women
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This is one of the few cases where gender is actually more or less irrelevant.
Pain tolerance mostly comes from feeling catastrophic amounts of pain, and later not feeling nearly as much pain from similar things because it simply doesn't compare to what you felt before. It remains entirely in the nervous system.
If you're asking which is typically more likely to have been hurt enough to have a higher pain tolerance, that's going to be men, hands down. But a woman who's been shot before is going to have a much higher pain tolerance than a guy who sits in an office all day.
Pain tolerance mostly comes from feeling catastrophic amounts of pain, and later not feeling nearly as much pain from similar things because it simply doesn't compare to what you felt before. It remains entirely in the nervous system.
If you're asking which is typically more likely to have been hurt enough to have a higher pain tolerance, that's going to be men, hands down. But a woman who's been shot before is going to have a much higher pain tolerance than a guy who sits in an office all day.
Uh, because he isn't sick every day of the year? Oh, and he doesn't care if I'm feeling too lazy to shave my legs. He's the most perfect man ever...AccursedTheory said:
Every test apart from the Myhbusters one shows either no significant difference or, more commonly, a higher average pain tolerance amongst men. The Mythbusters test was biased to produce the result they wanted, as clearly shown in the intro to it. It's not difficult to bias a test with a large psychological component (it was measuring *voluntary* endurance of pain) even if you don't intend to. That's why in proper studies subjects aren't made aware of the desired result beforehand and people with a strong wish to get a specific result don't do the test. Mythbusters even showed the effectiveness of a deliberate bias in their testing of people with reddish hair.
The idea that women have a higher pain tolerance than men is simply a reflection of prevailing prejudice in society. It's now normal to assume without thinking that women are superior to men overall, so it's normal to assume without thinking that women are superior to men in any particular way that isn't so obviously untrue that it can't be ignored (e.g. physical strength).
In the past, sexist stereotypes were normal both ways. An "everyone knows" kind of thing, e.g. everyone knew that women were more compassionate than men, that men were better at maths, etc. Various stereotypes both ways. Feminism has been so successful in promoting sexism that we've mostly gone past the original feminist goal of ending all positive stereotypes of men and reinforcing all positive stereotypes of women and so it's now common to have completely reversed past stereotypes, such as the one about pain tolerance. It might be interesting to see what happens if feminism achieves complete success in sexist stereotyping and it becomes normal to believe that women are superior to men in every single way rather than only superior overall.
The idea that women have a higher pain tolerance than men is simply a reflection of prevailing prejudice in society. It's now normal to assume without thinking that women are superior to men overall, so it's normal to assume without thinking that women are superior to men in any particular way that isn't so obviously untrue that it can't be ignored (e.g. physical strength).
In the past, sexist stereotypes were normal both ways. An "everyone knows" kind of thing, e.g. everyone knew that women were more compassionate than men, that men were better at maths, etc. Various stereotypes both ways. Feminism has been so successful in promoting sexism that we've mostly gone past the original feminist goal of ending all positive stereotypes of men and reinforcing all positive stereotypes of women and so it's now common to have completely reversed past stereotypes, such as the one about pain tolerance. It might be interesting to see what happens if feminism achieves complete success in sexist stereotyping and it becomes normal to believe that women are superior to men in every single way rather than only superior overall.
Match made in heaven, I suppose.daftalchemist said:
witness51 said:
Calling out, again.RamirezDoEverything said:
Threshold and tolerance are two very different things.
Pain threshold is when things start to hurt.
Women have a slightly higher pain threshold.
Meaning you need to pinch women slightly harder for it to hurt than on men.
Pain tolerance is an entirely different that depends wholly on the individual.
Pain threshold is when things start to hurt.
Women have a slightly higher pain threshold.
Meaning you need to pinch women slightly harder for it to hurt than on men.
Pain tolerance is an entirely different that depends wholly on the individual.
Can you name any studies that actually establish this? Because I know that women have the edge for at least a few types of pain--for instance, women are able to tolerate higher temperatures for longer on their hands than men can (for some reason). And your claim that women have almost twice as many pain receptors as men is highly suspect. If you mean pain sensors in the body, that actually doesn't correspond to a lower pain tolerance (it just means they'd be able to feel it more precisely; able to tell it was two needles poking them instead of one, and things like that). And if you mean that their brain's have almost twice as many pain neurons, I've never heard any such thing, and I have a degree in biopsychology.AccursedTheory said:
And as far as men doing more dangerous things, I would argue that that's actually evidence for why men would have a LOWER pain/sickness tolerance. Allow me to explain: in the ancient days, the job of men was to go out and hunt, while women were responsible for gathering roots and berries and such and raising the children (at least according to current understanding). Now, if a women got sick or hurt, she could still perform her duties pretty effectively--she's not taking any extra risks if she gathers berries while sick. And sick or no, children need caring for. But if a man goes hunting while sick or injured, he has a much higher chance of getting killed, and of getting his fellow hunters killed--mastodons are pretty dangerous, and if sickness or injury is slowing you down you don't stand much of a chance. So it would make sense for a man to stay home until he was fully recovered, rather than burden the hunting party with his reduced abilities. And as far as dealing with pain as a result of hunting injury/war, he's going to be all hopped up on adrenaline anyway, which kills pain for everyone. Or he's going to be in shock.
Last time i went to donate blood(on tuesday), some women shed a tear or cry when they pin their finger to know if they had anemia and their blood type, and even let out a yell when the big needle aproach. I on the other hand merely flinch when I got pin.
Also I was studying to be a chef, so I'm used to getting cut, pin and burn
Also I was studying to be a chef, so I'm used to getting cut, pin and burn
I typed into google "pain tolerance men vs. women" and the first 4 results are all scientific studies or compilations that agree men have higher tolerance overall. The Last article is even written by a woman. The view that women have higher tolerance comes completely from viewing through the perspective of child birth.
Scientifically men win, and I have used an adequate scientific info.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/07/050705004113.htm
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=51160 :
Laboratory studies show a clear difference in pain tolerance levels between men and women. When healthy men and women are subjected to heat and other types of pain tests, women almost always report feeling discomfort first.
"It takes a lower temperature for a women to tell you that this feels painful," says Roger Fillingim, PhD, associate professor in the college of dentistry at the University of Florida, in Gainesville. "The laboratory studies show rather convincingly that women have a lower pain threshold and pain tolerance than men. That has been fairly consistently shown in the experimental studies that have been done."
http://www.rps.psu.edu/probing/painthreshold.html
?Human studies more reliably show that men have higher pain thresholds than women, and some show that men have a higher pain tolerance as well,? Graham adds. Another way of thinking about these results, she points out, is that women show more sensitivity to pain.
http://health.msn.com/health-topics/pain-management/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100218149 -this is a women's article
Case Closed scientifically and objectively.
Scientifically men win, and I have used an adequate scientific info.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/07/050705004113.htm
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=51160 :
Laboratory studies show a clear difference in pain tolerance levels between men and women. When healthy men and women are subjected to heat and other types of pain tests, women almost always report feeling discomfort first.
"It takes a lower temperature for a women to tell you that this feels painful," says Roger Fillingim, PhD, associate professor in the college of dentistry at the University of Florida, in Gainesville. "The laboratory studies show rather convincingly that women have a lower pain threshold and pain tolerance than men. That has been fairly consistently shown in the experimental studies that have been done."
http://www.rps.psu.edu/probing/painthreshold.html
?Human studies more reliably show that men have higher pain thresholds than women, and some show that men have a higher pain tolerance as well,? Graham adds. Another way of thinking about these results, she points out, is that women show more sensitivity to pain.
http://health.msn.com/health-topics/pain-management/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100218149 -this is a women's article
Case Closed scientifically and objectively.
This. And it's precisely BECAUSE they're the ones who have to be the birth givers.Little Duck said:
It's women. Sorry brah. Supposedly they have a higher threshold of pain. Also this:
1:10 My balls are bleedin'! MY BALLS ARE BLEEDIN'!
Oh yeah... and THIS!
THAT WAS BEFORE I HAD THE CONTRACTIONS!
1:10 My balls are bleedin'! MY BALLS ARE BLEEDIN'!
Oh yeah... and THIS!
THAT WAS BEFORE I HAD THE CONTRACTIONS!
