Relationships are usually way more complicated than they appear. Case in point, new evidence from a study conducted jointly by the University of Chicago and Cornell University, which suggests that men whose wives are friendly with their male buddies are significantly more likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction.
What’s going on here? It’s not as simple as straight-up insecurity or jealousy. Rather, the results appear to indicate that the friendly wife interferes with the social connections that maintain her husband’s male identity. In this kind of “partner-betweenness” situation, men were an astonishing 92% more likely to report erectile dysfunction than men of a similar age not in a betweenness situation. As men entered old age, though, the correlation faltered. Old men do not define their masculinity by their buddy friendships, but have identities supported more by relationships with family members.
What makes a man a man? Certainly not the ability to coerce, threaten, or control his wife – to forbid her to socialize with his friends – or to play upon her insecurities to keep her compliant. The results of this study beg more examination, but in the meantime I might suggest: if you’re a man who wants to keep up keeping it up all through middle age, take the time to figure out who you are without your buddies around to remind you.
Read more here: Is impotence linked to dating within your group of friends? Via io9.com
No comments:
Post a Comment