More compassionate: Men or women?

[radhead]

You always hear that women are more compassionate than men. But I think that they just show it in different ways.

Men try to show you that the problem you have is much smaller than you think, maybe even non-existant. Perhaps the problem was even something that you caused yourself, which means you have some sort of control over it.

While women, on the other hand, want you to think that you are a good person (unfortunately one of the few) and you will continually have to deal with a lot of scary and evil people in the world, but that they will be there to hold you while you're crying increases.

What do you think?

 

[Sketcher]

It's going to depend on the individual man or woman. A lot of the Christian charities throughout the ages were started by men. One example is the man in London (might have been George Mueller, or I may have him mixed up with someone else) who would see the abandoned babies left on the busy sidewalks and started an orphanage. The Salvation Army - started by a man, and staffed today by a lot of men. The Benedictines and Franciscans - started by the men they're named after. Think of all the male doctors - and that's a profession that needs compassion.

By the same token, there are women out there who are too angry and too selfish, or just plain too evil to be compassionate. An extreme example would be the wife of a certain Nazi officer described in "Exodus" by Leon Uris. She'd use Jewish babies as clay pigeons with her husband.

 

[Mrs. Luther073082]

I think I read about a study that was done on this or something very similar and I'm pretty sure the results had been that men were more compassionate. But don't quote me on it.

 

[deliciousBass]

Women. Hands down. Even if they do show it in different ways, I believe women by nature are more compassionate. And that's okay.

 

[dluvs2trvl]

You always hear that women are more compassionate than men. But I think that they just show it in different ways.

Men try to show you that the problem you have is much smaller than you think, maybe even non-existant. Perhaps the problem was even something that you caused yourself, which means you have some sort of control over it.

While women, on the other hand, want you to think that you are a good person (unfortunately one of the few) and you will continually have to deal with a lot of scary and evil people in the world, but that they will be there to hold you while you're crying increases.

What do you think?

I think that is a very biased and negative view of women.

 

[deliciousBass]

I think this question is kind of like comparing Pepsi to Coke. Everybody knows that Pepsi is better but then you get a couple deviants who think Coke is better just to stir it up.

Same thing with the compassion.

 

[mina]

in my experience , i think women are. Guys may be once they feel it's safe to show that emotion, but for the most part unless you are really close to them they don't.

 

[Wren]

I think women are due to socialization. In psychology classes they list what are generally considered feminine traits and what are masculine traits (DB did a thread on that subject a few months ago). Compassion is considered a feminine trait. That influences how some parents raise children and how society treats boys/men.

If you take socialization out of the equation, I think that men and women are equally compassionate. I think a lot of differences between men and women come down to socialization.

 

[deliciousBass]

I think women are due to socialization. In psychology classes they list what are generally considered feminine traits and what are masculine traits (DB did a thread on that subject a few months ago). Compassion is considered a feminine trait. That influences how some parents raise children and how society treats boys/men.

If you take socialization out of the equation, I think that men and women are equally compassionate. I think a lot of differences between men and women come down to socialization.

Awww you remembered! I think you're right... a lot of it has to do with socialization... It's also important to note that during middle age, gender convergence begins to take effect and we become more like each other... that is, more men start to show their compassionate side and more women act out their masculine traits.

This, of course, changes from culture to culture.

 

[Tamara224]

I don't think either gender is inherently more compassionate than the other. However, I think women are, generally speaking, more empathetic than men. Thus, women are likely to be moved by compassion more frequently - or act out of compassion more frequently - than men. Not because women have more capacity for compassion than men, but simply because men do not tend to notice the need for it as often.

 

[ulu]

I think this question is kind of like comparing Pepsi to Coke. Everybody knows that Pepsi is better but then you get a couple deviants who think Coke is better just to stir it up.
.

That was uncalled for.

 

[Inkachu]

I think compassion has been "bred" out of the current male populace, even the Christian ones. You find one here and there, but the majority of men are not compassionate. They're taught to be tough, uncaring, ambitious, dog-eat-dog, get all you can, make yourself feel good, etc. Thank God for the few good ones.

I agree that men were much more compassionate in general in centuries past. When it was considered manly to be a kind, polite, caring gentleman. It's a lost characteristic today, though.

I think it's lost in a lot of women today, too, but not so much as the guys.

 

[Sketcher]

Toughness, ambition, and compassion are not mutually exclusive.

 

[GoodNewsJim]

While women, on the other hand, want you to think that you are a good person (unfortunately one of the few) and you will continually have to deal with a lot of scary and evil people in the world, but that they will be there to hold you while you're crying increases.

I don't know if that describes women, but it describes the Lifetime channel.

 

[Sophrosyne]

If you averaged all the compassion of all the women and compared
it to the average of all the compassion of the men..
How much does Jesus count for on the side of the men?

 

[ChristianCritic]

You always hear that women are more compassionate than men. But I think that they just show it in different ways.

Men try to show you that the problem you have is much smaller than you think, maybe even non-existant. Perhaps the problem was even something that you caused yourself, which means you have some sort of control over it.

While women, on the other hand, want you to think that you are a good person (unfortunately one of the few) and you will continually have to deal with a lot of scary and evil people in the world, but that they will be there to hold you while you're crying increases.

What do you think?

Men are from Mars, women are from Venus!

 

[radhead]

I think that is a very biased and negative view of women.

That's interesting, because the description of the man I gave is basically the bad traits that are associated with men, who are usually portrayed as clueless.

 

[Everlasting33]

Here's what compassion means: : "sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it."

Definitely women!

I'll never forget about this one woman a couple years ago. I was picking up my dog, missy, from groomers and I had to walk home. Well, it was really hot and Missy was so tired that she couldn't walk anymore and was really panting. We were standing on the sidewalk and this woman sees her and says, "aww...is she ok? Does she need some water?" So she goes and buys water for missy! I mean, I could never see a man coming up to me and doing this.

By my own experience, I definitely see women showing more compassion. I believe that part of this is society (men are told to hold back emotion), but I also think women are more compassionate because they are usually caretakers and nurturers (although this depends too).

 

[deliciousBass]

Here's what compassion means: : "sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it."

Definitely women!

I'll never forget about this one woman a couple years ago. I was picking up my dog, missy, from groomers and I had to walk home. Well, it was really hot and Missy was so tired that she couldn't walk anymore and was really panting. We were standing on the sidewalk and this woman sees her and says, "aww...is she ok? Does she need some water?" So she goes and buys water for missy! I mean, I could never see a man coming up to me and doing this.

By my own experience, I definitely see women showing more compassion. I believe that part of this is society (men are told to hold back emotion), but I also think women are more compassionate because they are usually caretakers and nurturers (although this depends too).

Just out of curiosity... would you happen to be a Steelers fan? haha...... Go 'Skins If we had actually converted those two turnovers in the first quarter we would've won that game yeah I'm bitter so what. haha.

 

[Everlasting33]

Just out of curiosity... would you happen to be a Steelers fan? haha...... Go 'Skins If we had actually converted those two turnovers in the first quarter we would've won that game yeah I'm bitter so what. haha.

haha, I guess you could call me a fan! Yeah, I am an obsessive fan

Yeah, I loved beating the Skins...especially because it was the first good team we beat. And the Steelers are like 9-1 on night games!

Please, please just beat the Ravens!!!!