Do you think men compare themselves to other men the way women compare themselves to other women?

It doesn’t seem that way, but we (men) also probably internalize more. I compare myself to men, only when they’re with a woman I think is attractive lol. I just size him up quickly, then forget about it.

I think everyone does. It is more a personality trait than a gender trait. Some people find it more important to be better than others than to be their best.

I’m more jealous of others for certain mental characteristics than physical ones for instance. I’m not going to be jealous of another girls perfect hair, but I might be jealous of her outgoing nature.

Undoubtedly.

They might compare themselves but not the way women do. Where women almost always compare dress or looks, men compare their toys. That being said, some of the higher bred ones may even compare admirable traits or qualities they like about someone who’s bigger than them. But then so do women, sometimes.

But I agree with the premise assumed in the question. Women do a lot more of the comparing.

Yes. They compare abs, musculature and penis length. Also, height and grip strength.

Clearly not! Men do it with their penis.~

@marinelife they compare grip strength? A guy once told me I had a vice-like grip. Is that a compliment?

@atlantis Yes.

@marinelife Cool. And I’m a girl :) So that’s makes it an Uber-compliment doesn’t it?

I’m pretty sure a lot of men do. I know I do.

Yes. My guy friends and acquaintances tell me they’re always trying to figure out how so-and-so has it going on and blah blah. They have opinions as to what guys they think are attractive or not, the looks, the demeanor, the accomplishments, etc.

I think so. They just tend to do it differently than women.

I don’t, never have, never will. I’m my own man & i’ll beat my chest like a stubborn alpha male if I feel like it….okay? ;¬}

I do not penis gaze so that’s not an issue nor do I wonder how they’ve made it in the world because there is only one way (unless it’s inherited) and body size doesn’t create jealousy nor envy in my mind because these people had to sacrifice more than I was willing in order to impress others superficially BUT to see what I would call a very average looking dude with his arms wrapped around a beautiful chick in my mind is absolutely illogical but then I realize, “Hey, it has to do with the trophy and not (necessarily) the love” so even there I’m happy to be with a woman who doesn’t have to dress up and look as if I were successful.. No, I don’t compare other men because no other man is me as I am not them.

Some do, but in general I find them to be way less obsessive about it.

There are many extremely popular publications aimed at women, which generally consist of a load of photos of- and reporting about- other women. The point seems to be comparing them, at least with each other (e.g. who had the best dress at X event, who had the worst make-up disaster of Y year, who had the most beautiful wedding in Z category), if not directly with the readers.

There are some similar trends in men’s publications, but to nowhere near the same extent, and with nowhere near the same level of popularity. What’s more, men who are consciously and openly into that kind of analysis of self-image and the image of other men are generally regarded negatively as narcissistic, or at least closeted gay.

Of course, being openly gay is a perfect excuse to be narcissistic, because they’re not held to the same ‘standards’ as ‘straight’ men…

The ‘manliness’ societal pressure encourages a perfectly (but entirely naturally) struck balance between looking good and not-giving-a-shit.

Try too hard at either and people will give you stick.

Women are ‘expected’ (and so encouraged) to be obsessed with image, at least for some portion of their lives. – _ – ’

We’re in a Darwinian competition, so of course we compare ourselves; sizing each other up to see if we think we can beat them for the prized women. There are any number of metrics that might be used. Things like penis size are kind of silly, but they do make a difference with certain women. Height, weight, strength, earning power, toys, intelligence, wit, power—all things we might compare ourselves on. Looks, ability to dress well, manners, smoothness with the ladies, ability to drink, ride horses, rope cattle, fly a fighter jet, jump from airplanes, climb Mt. Everest—for god’s sake, just about everything we do is a competition and a comparison.

I’m pretty sure it’s the same for women. Maybe you’re asking about the major comparison points. I don’t see how we could say much about that because there are so many things we measure and take into account, that to say income or looks or strength or penis size was one of the most important things would be absurd. They are just the cliches and don’t get anywhere close to what really goes on in our heads when we size each other up.

A lot of women say they like intelligence in a man. I’m not sure men think that women like that. An intelligent many might fly under the radar by acquiring skills that women want but that men don’t really think women want. It can become an advantage for such a man to not really do well in comparisons with men. They won’t think much of him, being completely oblivious to the fact that he is actually quite popular with women.

Then again, maybe real men don’t care. They much more prefer to compete with each other to prove who is more macho or strong or powerful or whatever. They think this is more meaningful to them than a relationship with a woman.

It takes all kinds.

Yes, I think they do.

Hard to say. When we do, we don’t really talk about it. Women tend to talk about it more (or at least we hear about it more, maybe from media) so it seems like they are doing more comparing.

Also, I think we tend to call it “competition” more than “comparison” which makes it sound somehow less petty.

@atlantis Probably not… I mean, it means your strong, but a lot of guys don’t want a physically strong woman (or at least, don’t value physical strength in a woman).

@roundsquare I was in the process of handing his behind to him. So he might have been trying to flatter me into letting him go. You think?

Define “handing him his behind.” If you were beating him up, chances are flattery wasn’t on his mind :) That being said, if you are proud of your grip strength, take pride in it weather or not he meant it as a compliment.

Yeah I was beating him up. Wasn’t that clear? I didn’t wanna use the a word.

@atlantis It was, except for the fact that he was complimenting you while he was being beat up… just wanted to make sure I wasn’t mis-interpreting.

I’m sure he was being trite.