Category: Focus on Research

By Rico Fischer

There is the belief that heterosexuals have casual sex (one-night stands or one-off sex with acquaintances) because they simply desire the pleasure that comes with it. The underlying assumption here is that the only reason men and women, but particularly men, have casual sex, is to be quickly satisfied. Research shows that in committed relationships, there are myriads of reasons, including emotional satisfaction. But casual sex is different, right?

By Rico Fischer

According to Vadenllo and Bosson’s (2017) precarious manhood theory, (1) men are not born with manhood but they must earn it; (2) a man earns being seen as a man by behaving in the way that society expects a man to behave; (3) manhood is difficult to earn but easy to lose. So, what happens when your sense of manhood is threatened? According to the theory, men feel aggressive and anxious, and cope by acting in stereotypically masculine ways.

Whether threatening manhood does indeed trigger anxiety, aggression and stereotypically male behaviour was tested in a study recently published in the journal Psychology of Men and Masculinity.