Men Are More Sensitive Than Women, No Matter How Much They Deny It

Women have a reputation for being over-emotional, sensitive, weepy creatures that can fly off the handle for no reason — and OK, sometimes we totally do. But as often as guys might roll their eyes over emotional women, they’re often even more sensitive than we are — they just don’t always know how to process it. Here’s proof that men outdo women in the sensitivity department, no matter how much they try to deny it.

1. They take rejection pretty poorly. Yeah, all those guys freaking out when you turn them down are operating from ego, but ego is a defensive little sucker that’s protecting some sort of vulnerability.
2. Most guys fight their feelings. A lot of guys are raised to not show their sensitivity, even though we all have the same emotions inside of us. Swallowing things usually just makes them worse over time, as they’ll eventually find out.
3. They’d rather shock themselves than meditate. When people are left alone in a room to think but have the option to shock themselves instead, 2/3rds of men will take the latter option while only a quarter of women will.
4. They’re good at hiding it. One study hooked participants up to a machine and asked them to rate their emotions when shown certain content. The men scored higher on emotional sensitivity, but they underreported their emotions, while women over-reported them.
5. They take breakups harder. Men might move on quicker to hide their pain, but some research has shown that men in their 20s take breakups harder than women do. Aww, isn’t that sweet?
6. They’re more likely to numb the pain. Sometimes when people are hurting, they turn towards substances or other “fun” stuff to feel better. And you guessed it — men are more likely to develop substance abuse disorders.
7. They don’t handle being sick very well. Okay, okay, this one isn’t backed up by science, but have you ever seen a man with a cold? You’d think it was the plague. We hardly notice colds because we’re busy dealing with normal aches and pains like sore boobs and cramps.
8. They can’t take criticism. Studies say that men don’t take criticism and direction as well as women do. We’re all for independence and forging your own way, but sometimes accepting criticism is actually what pushes us to be better, stronger people. And that’s where it’s at.
9. They compartmentalize. When we don’t want to deal with our emotions, we put them away somewhere they won’t bother us… until the explode one single day and we hear all kinds of pent up thoughts he’s been having.
10. They don’t have as much casual sex as women do. When you think of casual sex, you probably think of the “non-emotional” men first, but studies have shown that women are more likely to get into a friends with benefits situation than men are.
11. They’re more sensitive to infidelity. Of the physical kind, that is. Researchers have found that men feel more jealousy over physical infidelity than women do. However, they’re less worried about emotional infidelity than us. We all have our things.