Envy is a complex emotion that can take different forms and is often shaped by both social and biological influences. Now, researchers have described a “new” kind of envy imbalance that is directed toward the opposite sex.
The team found that women tend to envy men for perceived social advantages, including their salaries and prestige, as well as biological conditions related to their strength and the absence of menstruation. In contrast, men envied women for their physical attractiveness, their supposed ease of seduction, and their ability to perform the “traditional” role of motherhood.
Despite the fact that our society is significantly more open-minded than in the past, sex inequality remains an issue across the world. The roles society ascribes to us – both directly and indirectly – can have massive impacts on our lives. These pressures can impact how we behave, how we dress, how we are expected to fulfill our lives, and even which emotions we should express and when. A failure to abide by such rules can often lead to social sanctions that produce shame, anger, and sadness.
This latest research was inspired by the observation that discussions with students and during intervention therapy sometimes included recurring patterns of emotional imbalance. These discussions brought to light levels of envy that often influence male-female relationships.
The current scientific literature is filled with numerous studies on the subject of envy, but significantly less attention has been paid to how it operates between genders in contemporary society, especially as gender roles and the boundaries between them continue to evolve.
“The aim of our study was to identify these objects of envy in a representative sample and thus verify our hypothesis,” the team, from the University of Ostrava, Czechia, wrote.
“Assuming that our preliminary research identifies differences in envy between men and women, it is proposed to initiate a comprehensive research on this issue that would also conceptualize the quality of life domain.”
In order to explore this subject, the team examined data collected by the sociological research project, INRES-SONES Inc. This data related to 1,769 participants aged from 15 upwards (the oldest respondents were 92 years old, for men, and 94 for women), and was representative of the population of the Czech Republic. Participants were asked an open-ended question that allowed them to provide completely individualized, independent answers. The question was simple: “What do you envy in the other sex?”
The answers, which ranged from one word to several sentences, were then analyzed using thematic analysis. This approach organizes qualitative information into easily identifiable patterns or themes. In this case, answers were categorized into specific codes that were then grouped together into “super categories”: societal advantages, physicality, and psychological traits. These categories were then subdivided to capture more nuanced aspects of gender.
Women were found to express envy for perceived male social privileges. This included their higher salaries, career advantage opportunities, their ability to relax more easily, and a supposed freedom from societal pressure concerning their appearance.
“Women often feel that society does not permit them to age naturally, which leads to envy of men who are able to tolerate many of the associated changes”, the team explained.
“These include the ability to age into beauty, the lack of the need to spend an hour in front of a mirror before leaving the house, the ability to spend time and money at the hairdresser’s, the ease of dressing requirements, the lack of judgement on their appearance, the absence of cellulite, and the ability to go without makeup to look good.”
In contrast, men envied women for their physical beauty, especially their “loveliness”, “soft curves”, “elegance”, and their overall “sexy” “attractiveness”. They also envied women for their supposed “seductive” powers, where this beauty is a tool for “manipulation”, and to use charm to influence others. Outside of their esthetics, men also envied women for their ability to express emotions more openly and without societal judgment.
On the subject of physical envy, women envied men for their strength, their freedom from menstruation, pregnancy, the menopause, and their ability to urinate standing up. Men, on the other hand, actually envied women for their ability to bring new life into the world, some even explicitly envied motherhood.
Finally, in terms of psychology, women envied the perception that men are more logical when it comes to life, and their apparent emotional stability, while men envied women’s ability to multitask and to deal with complex responsibilities. These examples bring to light key societal expectations that clearly influence how we see members of the opposite sex.
While this shows that there is a form of gender envy at play, the team also found that many respondents did not report any envy over the other sex (over 42 percent of women and more than 56 percent of men). This could mean that many individuals are more indifferent to perceived gender differences and view them with more acceptance.
Despite these interesting results, the study is limited in that it does focus on the Czech population, which may not be representative of wider communities. At the same time, the study relied on single answers to a single question, which could not allow for broader development of answers.
Nevertheless, the study provides valuable insights into how the sexes view one another and shows that envy does appear to exist for perceived differences in social roles, physical traits, and psychological behaviors.
The paper is published in Frontiers in Psychology.
Source Link: What Do Men And Women Envy In The Opposite Sex?
