What Maketh a Man?

As I was wandering around online, I came across a review for a book entitled “Men: Evolutionary and Life History.” The review contained all kinds of tidbits from the book about men, such as:

- although testosterone strengthens male reproductive effort, it also fosters the growth of prostate cancer

- because of men's rather fleeting role in the reproduction of the human species, they are not biologically required to invest energy in their offspring

- men, who make up roughly half of the worldwide population, account for 85 percent of the violent crime in the United States and other countries

- men are more likely than women to engage in risky or life-threatening behavior

This relates to the Psychology of Sex and Gender because in class, we made a lengthy list of descriptors for males and females. The last two bullet points above relate to some of the descriptors that we listed. The fact about men accounting for 85 percent of the violent crime in the U.S. would correspond with fearless, aggressive, and territorial. The fact about men being more likely to engage in risky or life-threatening behavior corresponds with athletic, fearless, strong, and stubborn.