WOMEN ARE TOUGHER THAN MEN

You are very right to point out that my evidence is extremely anecdotal. There are most likely many elite men who train just as hard.

Still, they obvious pain that Yoko and Reiko were in was amazing to watch and listen to.

Jason

BS. you will never be able to prove this, because it isn't true. men don't give birth, because they don't have vaginas and the other requisite equipment. if i had a vagina, i would give birth to chubby triplets, and then bust a hard 5K just to prove you wrong. don't believe it? well you should, because i'm gonna be preagnant soon. i can feel it.

Yo,

Anybody remember Celebrity Boxing? The most muscular, badass woman in the world (Chyna) got her ass kicked by a dumpy, 50-year-old babysitter (Joey Budafuco or however you spell it). She didn't just lose, she got destroyed! Getting wrecked in a boxing match is not tough.

As for childbirth, last time I checked, when women give birth, they aren't calmly delivering the baby, they're either drugged up beyond belief or they're screaming bloody murder. I don't blame them, but at the same time, getting hit in the nuts with a baseball, screaming, falling down, and being carted to the hospital does not make you tough. Getting hit in the nuts with a baseball, coughing up blood, and continuing to play the game is tough. A lot of women are whining when they should be training. As the saying goes, "when the going gets tough, the tough get going." Stop whining and run with the men if you're so tough.

I also have big issues with toughness being defined as how much pain you can deal with. It's all mental- women might be able to deliver babies (very tough) but I can't think of anything tougher than charging the beaches of Normandy or walking through the jungle of Vietnam. Most of the women I know get scared when there are moths buzzing around a streetlight.

Anywho, women might turn out to be faster than men, but they'll never get there if they think they're already the toughest. Stop whining and start training!

Compare the Chyna of the WWE and the Chyna in that boxing match. Looks to me Chyna had been off the 'roids and/or HgH for some time before her "boxing" match. Plus Budafuco cheated.

Chyna

Finally, a voice of reason!

you dont think if someone on Oprah would have said, "men are tougher than women" a bunch of women wouldn't be screaming about it.

it is something that can never be proven, which makes it so much fun to debate.

what we do seem to agree on is that women typically show or express more pain than men. the question is, "is this a result of being able to handle such an excruciating amount of pain, or the exact opposite?"

we'll never know for sure, but we can debate it.

and the child birth thing, whoever said women don't just do it calmly was right on. anyone, man or women, can handle that much pain when it's about giving life to a child.

I\'ve heard a couple of women say that a kidney stone hurts worse than child birth. Also, you don\'t see men cry when they get hurt. Sure their faces are in agony but rarely does it have tears.

I might be wrong, but.... in these nutso Eco-challenges, isn't it more likely to see the obligatory lady whining, tearing up, blaming, and quitting. One incident (a bike-throwing tantrum before quitting and saying everyone is against me) sticks in my mind. It seems to be to be generally representative.

I have no insecurities about this at all.

I *KNOW* that my mom can kick my ass, and I am proud to have a super-tough mother.

Master0909 wrote:

Here's a little psy background knowledge into this issue: Toughness is correlated to the amount of pain that is shown. There have been numerous studies about the sex difference factor when dealing with pain. The fact is: it's the same. However, our backgrounds dictate us to express the pain in different ways. ... women (IN GENERAL) have been raised to express pain more than men.

Always question your sources.

Soo... That means that women show pain by being wimps and men show pain by being tough, yet that somehow makes them equally tough.

I'm not saying women are wimps, but that is what your suggestion implies.

The argument about child birth doesn't work either. Women either drug up or scream like mad. Someone stated that in the past many women died during child birth; however, that had nothing to do with the pain, merely birthing complications from lack of medical awareness. i.e. internal bleeding and such. I don't believe women are wimps, but as of yet no one has made any since who claims them to be tougher than men.

mikemckeighen wrote:

Women either drug up or scream like mad. .

First of all, you can't make that generalization. I would never assert that women are tougher because they can endure childbirth, but it pisses me off to have MEN belittle the pain involved by saying that all women these days are drugged up. There are women who prefer a drug-free birth for the sake of the child, and some women can handle the pain of childbirth without drugs AND without screaming, believe it or not. Although in an earlier post, I jokingly said that women ARE tougher than men, I was really referring to the fact that I'm tougher than my husband--and he'll second that! He has a very low pain threshhold, and when he's sick, he is the Simpson prototype - moaning on the couch (if he actually manages to get out of bed) acting as if he might pass into the next world if he so much as lifts a finger. On the other hand, he's convinced that I actually enjoy pain because I never whine or complain when I'm injured or sick. Bottom line is, toughness and pain tolerance vary person to person, not gender to gender. I've known plenty of tough women AND men, and plenty of not-so-tough folks from both genders. You just can't generalize about this topic - far too many variables come into play.

I've heard that in some of the Kenyan tribes, circumcision is a rite of manhood, not something that is done when you are a baby. I cannot imagine being circumised at 16, but one runner said his father told him something to the effect of, "Remember this pain, nothing is worse." Now THAT is tough.

well im really sorry you married a wussie, and of course you can't actually answer the topic definitively, but from my interactions with men and women, on the "average" i have found men to be tougher than women. if you asked my mom who was tougher between her and my dad, she would say my dad by far, and i know my mom is no wimp. one group being tougher than another does not make the other group wimps. as of yet though i still have not seen any argument about women being tougher than men that actually makes sense, other than you being tougher than your husband. either way, i believe overall in our society that both genders are raised to be wimpier than in the past. just look at training wheels on bikes, that is the most pathetic thing i've ever seen.

This is a stupid threa because no one can ever cross the bounds and therefore no one will ever really know. Do all the arguing you want but you cannot have any real conclusive proof. What if everyone had a differing level of pain perception, but we conform to the standards we are given as how far to push ourselves. Maybe for me pain is a lot worse than for you, but when we equally push ourselves at the same level of difficulty I would be tolerating a whole lot more pain than you. This is very possible since no one can cross the bounds that seperates everyone\'s perception of feelings

This is a stupid threa because no one can ever cross the bounds and therefore no one will ever really know. Do all the arguing you want but you cannot have any real conclusive proof. What if everyone had a differing level of pain perception, but we conform to the standards we are given as how far to push ourselves. Maybe for me pain is a lot worse than for you, but when we equally push ourselves at the same level of difficulty I would be tolerating a whole lot more pain than you. This is very possible since no one can cross the bounds that seperates everyone\'s perception of feelings

mikemckeighen wrote:

well im really sorry you married a wussie, and of course you can't actually answer the topic definitively... as of yet though i still have not seen any argument about women being tougher than men that actually makes sense, other than you being tougher than your husband

I think you were trying to refute my point, when in actuality, you just reiterated it. My point was that I don't believe that women are tougher than men, or vice-versa. Toughness is simply something that varies from person to person regardless of gender. There is no argument in favor of either gender that could be definitive or make sense. Was that clear enough?

i do actually agree with you to an extent that it will vary and that you can't prove either way in any quantified manner. however i do have an opinion, which is only an opinion that i have stated on this thread that men on average are tougher than women. this is simply based on my limited interaction with both men and women and seeing how they respond to the same stimuli such as cuts or scrapes or falls or illnesses ( which really can't be known too well how bad that can is for each person) and any other sort of dealing with pain. my opinion is just a "guess" but the thread was started out stating women were tougher than men, and yet i have not seen any argument to back that up effectively (which is what i stated) no other argument claiming men to be tougher has been any good either. is that clear enough for you??

Your point is clear, concise, and right on. Thanks for not backing down to the egos. You are one smart, tough woman!

Reading all of this was quite entertaining. But I am with the vote of men and women are not tougher than one another as a gender - both can be tough or weak - it is all a state of mind and an adjustment to pain. Many things can increase the tolerance of pain - the main one in most of our lives is training. I bet the wife w/ the hangnail was never an athlete, I had college guy friends who could train 100 miles a week but want a ride 3 blocks and whine about a sunburn. So tough people can be weak when they want to. It is all relative.

However, the disrespect of others both men and women is a little much. And the sweeping generalizations, not too well thought out.

If you punched me, maybe I wouldnt fight back because I am a bigger person, not because I am weak, and I have been full out punched by a man and did not fall or even feel pain until the next day (an errant punch gone wrong at a party in those crazy college days). It is a little thing called adrenaline. Maybe as a competitor you have heard of it?

And my boyfried always says he wishes he could carry a baby because he thinks it is one of the coolest things int he world to give life. So perhaps men just are envious of the experience, but without a major miracle, men have no worries.

I used to train like a beast and train until I about passed out because my pain tolerance was ridiculous. However, now I choose to coach, and enjoy watching the others go through the pain. I no longer have that desire to train. Instead I wuss out and watch others. And I love it. And I have tough guys and tough girls, and the weak ones, well they fall at the wayside over time anyways.