Men are dogs

Men are dogs...

Dogs are kind, loyal, empathetic, and affectionate. Are men really like dogs? I would say men are more like the male of any form of any sentient being (must be aware of pleasure and pain). Let's explore this question a little further. I would venture out to hypothesize that: The sense of compassion and interconnectedness with others is not as strong in male species as it is within females.

An experiment done with the macaque monkey population can bring us to an understanding of this phenomena. It was arranged so that when a monkey pulled a chain, it got food. But everytime it pulled the chain...another monkey was shocked. The one who pulled the chain had to see the other monkey suffer because of the pulled chain. Some monkeys would starve themselves for days. If it was a familiar monkey, it would starve itself for longer periods of time. If it were a the same species, but not familiar, the time of starvation would be shorter. If it were a different kind of monkey, it would hesitate even less in pulling the chain.

Monkey's are compassionate when it comes to their own kind, but less so when they are not familiar. I believe that females of the species have a grander sense of oneness and interconnectedness which comes from the miracle of motherhood-- this a sense of compassion between mother and child. It takes an effort to try and think of other people as close to you, so that their suffering matters as much as your own. For mothers this is easy. A mother would not hesitate to sacrifice herself fo her offspring, even in birds.

In humans compassion is a cultivation of the mind, where you first have to admit the consequences of your actions (knowledge) and then you have to relate it to someone close to you. This is SO easy for females because we are all connected through the act of, or at least the possibility of giving birth. This takes internalization and constant reflection. Do-acknowledge-reflect-act.

Men are more like turtles. A turtle does not have the dependency on its mother from birth. It takes more effort to show affection and compassion for this creature because from birth, it maybe, was never given the chance to be dependent. Like when the mother says, "You are a big boy now". And holds the child at a distance, if the child hasn't finished the bonding period and healthfully let go then this becomes a constant and ever present fear--abandonment.

SO when you hear the phrase, "Men are like dogs". You can say, "Nah, they're more like turtles"