Should Gender Stereotypes be challenged?

[paulpablo]

I grew up on a farm. I've never seen what you're saying with cats or dogs. Their aggression tends to vary on individual basis. Male peacocks tend to be more aggressive than females, and female ostrich tend to be more aggressive than males. None of this means anything though. Personal experience doesn't count for much by way of evidence.

It really depends which definition of aggression is being used.

Aggression can mean forcefullness. Well male cats very commonly stronger than female cats so they can always afford to be more forceful. Their territories are about ten times bigger than a females, this is shown in studies that are easy to search for. Male sexual behvior is pretty forceful. The combination of these things result in males having bigger areas to fight for, and females to fight over.

Aggression is a feeling of anger, readiness to attack or confront, not really measurable in any scientific way. It's quite difficult to measure a feeling. I don't even really know how you could find a scientific study on aggression as a measureable unit anyway, a look or facial expression can be aggressive, walking into a territory that isn't yours can be taken as an act of aggression but you'd only know if it was or not if you could read a cats mind and know if they are doing that action aggressively or by accident.

It could just be the fact that male cats are stronger and that's why the aggression is more noticable in them but I just doubt it, all the male cats I've owned loved nothing better than to rush out and fight all night and come home with scars, ears ripped up. females would remain unscathed, limiting their aggression to hunting mice every now and again. And I did own a pretty vicious female cat too, but she was more defensive than aggressive, she wouldn't take any shit from cats coming near her but it was very rare she would go on the attack.

I know these stories aren't scientific but I love observing cat behavior and talking about it so whatever, I'm just going to ramble on anyway. My auntie once had some psycho tom cat she rescued from the inner city that was so territorial he would go out to try and try to fight cars, horses, dogs or anything that was in his area. He died, I think some kids found either its head or its body, but not attached. It probably got into some hideously violent fight with a fox or dog.