The Aggressive Nature of Males
Man has the need to command, to perform, to take the lead, and to show strength because of the nature of his manhood. He feels the need of mastery in relation to a woman and may manifest this need in the area of intellectual superiority or sexual aggressiveness.
A young woman who recently divorced her husband after seven years if marriage states that one of the areas of serious tension between them developed because of her superior education. Her university education enabled her to get a job that paid higher salary than his. Her pursuit of a university degree perhaps indicated a difference in intellectual interests and ability. On the other hand, a husband's having more education does not ordinarily lead to conflict. It is not unusual to hear of conflict between a husband and wife caused by his sexual aggressiveness in contrast to her passivism.
The aggressive nature of males is obvious even in children. Sisters may fight with one another; girls of different families seldom do. On the other hand, boys frequently are engaged in scuffles and fisticuffs. Few women engage in professional fighting. Boys form gangs and attempt to dominate competitors. Football has become a popular sport for men and boys, especially in the United States, because it is both physical and competitive.
The aggressive, dominating, and competitive nature of males is reflected also in lower animals. In a herd, one male will establish himself as dominant. To become established as the king of the herd, the male must fight numerous battles. Other males may be permitted to remain within the herd, but they must respect th3 domination of the leader. Each time a new male attempts to join the herd, a new battle ensues with one becoming the victor. After age has taken its toll on the strength of the male, a challenger eventually replaces him. Females may fight, but they do not seek to establish dominance. Their aggressiveness usually is related to protecting their young or the getting of food.
The aggressiveness of males is related to the sexual drive. The sexual pattern of the female is cycnical and is related to conception and bearing of offsprings. The sexual pattern of the male is an immediate emotional response to the female. The strong emotion arising within his body causes him to become very aggressive and dominating.
Although the human mental and psychological capacities modify men's instinctual drives, men continue to have some of the traits of lover animals. They are highly competitive and often struggle for the dominant position within an organization. They respond immediately with strong emotion to the sexual overtures of women. This response is not because a particular man is sensual but because he has the nature of man with this type reaction built into his very nature. His response is aroused by sight. Men who lack emotional maturity may be unable to control their impulses when enticed by women's overexposing their bodies and by indiscreet actions or dress. The sex impulse is essential for the propagation of the race and is basic to the relation of man and woman. The sex drive is so powerful, however, that it can become the master of the man who is not controlled by moral convictions. It can lead to crime and social disruption.
Man's Externality
Jacob Moreno, a physchiatrist of Vienna, emphasized the importance of encounter in social relationships. He was joined by Martin Buber who defined the personal encounter structure as an "I-Thou" concept of relationship with other persons or with God. Buber followed an idea stated by Feuerbach in Principle of the philosophy of the future which holds that an individual person does not have his being in himself, either as moral being or a thinking being. Rather, personality, exist only in community, in the unity of person with person. Buber concluded that a person is incomplete as an individual; he is not a personality in isolation. Nor does he find his fulfillment by submerging himself in the collective mass of the crowd. Real life is in meeting- a life of relationship between person and person. This meeting, or encounter, is the life of dialogue in which one person addresses the other and the other responds, thus establishing a relationship that gives meaning to life. The whole being of one person communicates with the total being of another. In an intimate encounter in which two spirits blend, the other person is not an object who remains separate from one's own experience. Rather, he becomes a subject also who addresses the other as subject. "I-It" defines a relation to a thing in which the attitude of the person is that of separation from an object. When "I" encounters a person in a living experience, the person encountered becomes "Thou," and a living and mutual relationship is experienced. A person does not become a fulfilled self alone or in relationships to objects by in relation to another self.
God is a person with whom human beings establish an interpersonal relationship. He cannot be known by being treated as the object of abstract reasoning, for this process reduces "Thou" to "It" and puts God on the level of other things. One reason that woman may be more religiously inclined is her nature to find fulfillment in being and relationship. Man too must experience being and relationship in order to find fulfillment, but he has a tendency towards externality which causes his relationship to God to be less natural for him. He does not necessarily deny God's existence, but his natural tendency is to treat God as an object rather than as a being vitally involved in his daily life. As long as God does not interfere in his personal life, man is satisfied to manage his own affairs.
Man's externality may arise in part from his social position as head of the home and leader in society. He tends to view himself as independent and self-sufficient. These characteristics cause him to show less dependence on personal relationship for fulfillment. At a deeper level, man is a social being and experiences highest fulfillment only in the "I-Thou" relationships with the other persons and God. His deeper personal and spiritual needs require an encounter-type of relationship with his wife and with God, but his externality causes him to appear less dependent on communication and other aspects of personal relationship.
Man's externality may result in part from his economic role and the nature of his business relations. Because of competition, business relationships may take on the character of "I-It" rather than developing into an "I-Thou." A man may have difficulty making a proper transition on the way home from work from the business structured relationship represented as "I-It" to the more appropriate personal relationship for the family represented as "I-Thou."
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