Why trying to get men to do the washing up can be a real fight

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Updated:

Getting men to step up and do their fair share of the housework up can be a real fight - literally.

Asking men to do jobs traditionally associated with women, like washing the dishes, could make them more aggressive, according to a study.

Researchers from the University of South Florida found that men react aggressively if they feel their masculinity is being threatened.

Stereotype? Asking men to do jobs traditionally associated with women, like washing the dishes, could make them more aggressive, according to a study

Stereotype? Asking men to do jobs traditionally associated with women, like washing the dishes, could make them more aggressive, according to a study

After doing tasks traditionally associated with women, like cleaning or housework, men will deliberately behave in a more macho way to restore their self-esteem.

The researchers asked one group of men to behave in a way seen to be more feminine by braiding hair, while another group was asked to braid rope - a similar, but more masculine occupation.

Afterwards, when given a choice between either punching a punch bag or doing a puzzle, the hair-braiders overwhelmingly chose the more violent option.

In another test, both sets of men were asked to hit the punch bag. The hair-braiders punched harder than the rope-braiders, researchers found.

Professor Jennifer Bosson, who was part of a team of psychologists  that carried out the study, said men used their aggression as a tactic to restore masculinity.

'Men are extremely concerned about how they appear in other people's eyes and the more concerned they are, the more they will suffer psychologically when their manhood feels violated,' Professor Bosson told the Daily Telegraph.

'Gender role violation can be a big thing, like losing a job, or a little thing, like being asked to braid hair in a laboratory.'

Men also tended to feel that their masculinity was defined by their achievements, while femininity or womanhood was seen primarily as a biological state, Professor Bosson said.

The paper was published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

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