Do you think we as a human race (now) still have the instincts like we did when we were cavemen? Or is instinct slowly leaving us?

I think instinct is alive and well in men. In the instances you have described, they are social overlays, behaviors that are currently acceptable.

Men use their hunting ability and instincts in business and in war.

Instinct is there – genetically coded to us. How those instincts show themselves is certainly changing.

For example, that exciting tingle that keeps people buying cheesy horror movies? That’s the fight-or-flight instinct that kept CaveYou from getting eaten by a Saber-Toothed Tiger.

“Masculine” versus “Feminine” behaviour as you describe in the first part of your details, is a social construct, and a consistently evolving one. 300 years ago in England and France it was very common for men to wear cosmetics and pastel colours, and speak in high-pitched voices. Today that’s considered “effeminate”.

All humans have a protective instinct over those who they feel close to, and less of one over those who do not matter to them (any more so than another person who is not part of their kin-selection group)

I think we still have instincts but we’re learning to reason, which does take over instinct. Doesn’t mean instinct isn’t there—just that it’s less necessary.

It’s very acceptable for a man to embrace his feminine side? That’s news to me.

As for the main question, I agree with everybody above me.

Instincts are behaviors that are performed without being based on any prior experience (e.g., you didn’t learn it). Instincts are innate (we are born with them). Because we have big brains, we are able to learn behaviors that supercede our innately programmed reactions most of the time.

Even with big brains and lots of learned behaviors, however, there are certain situations where we have repeatedly demonstrated our inability to overcome our instincts. These situations include reproduction, territorialism, competition, group-seeking, and others that tend to help us survive as organisms.

Sociology, psychology, religion and many other domains often seek to assert that one trait is innate and another is learned. @Seek_Kolinahr is using the term “social constructs” to describe things we are taught but are not born with. Social constructs are studied by sociologists and psychologists and are often created by followers of religions.

Upon rereading I want to clarify that it’s news to me that it’s socially acceptable – I personally think there’s nothing wrong with men expressing their feminine side, but I don’t think we’ve reached the point yet where it’s very widely accepted.

Our instincts are still here, but perhaps not as simplistically as you describe them. It’s not as if there is some definition of “manly” built into our bodies.

To this day actually, we will never know what roles more feminine men played as cavemen. My best guess would be they were more in tune with beautifying the human body back then, or serving as a hybrid, capable of having the man strength and hunting abilities yet also being extremely nurturing. (I felt I had to elaborate on your feminist statement/idea in your details)

I definitely still have those instincts. You throw me in the wild, I will know how to hunt, how to cook, make fire, defend our territory, make alliances, etc. How? By merely playing outside as a kid and exploring my territory, catching bugs, navigating through trails, observing nature, memorizing all that. Not really by having read a survival guide. I think it’s basic common sense, yet only some humans (maybe 1–4 people?) would know how to fire on all cylinders when thrown into the wild. But you know what? That’s totally ok. Because it’s most likely that those who had the most wisdom or showed the most courage via hunting, or creating boats for travel etc that would be admired and thus followed. We still are in nature. A man made nature but what we do is for survival. If it means becoming civilized so that the likely hood of our species as a whole is to exist I’m for it.

Legend has it that more feminine men became medicine men, shamans, mystics, healers and other non-traditional but necessary roles for the tribe or clan.

(Disclaimer; my research consists of having read several of Jean Auel’s “Clan” series.)

Sure we do. Trust me. When I came face to face with a mountain lion behind my barn one night a few years ago, well….I am sure there was no difference than my primitive kin who stumbled across a sabre tooth tiger. Holy guacamole batman….after a 20 second stare down, the cat turned and walked away, and even though my head was screaming ” don’t RUN” I backed down the hill for about 10 yards and then yes, I turned and ran for my house like a gazelle running from a lion. lol

I’m thinking in caveman days, the best person would do the hunting, whether male or female. The men would probably be just a prone as women to express their emotion, such as crying or getting angry. The roles between men and women would probably not be as strictly drawn as they appear to be today.

What does a man look like when they are expressing this so called…feminine side. Is this universal?

Seriously, how do we even know if some cavemen did not send cavewomen out to gather meat and berries while they decorate the cave with drawings and curtains made from mammoth skin-?

(Trying not to offend)
I know this an American website, so perhaps it is different in USA, but in the UK, it is ok to be a feminine man Of course there is the ocassional disagreement, but overall, it is quite accepted. I know people my age (19) are all okay with it, my straight male friends cuddle and stuff all the time!
The world is changing and people have different prorites to what we did back in the day; that’s why I asked the question.

@sabine They use the word “randy” a lot over there?

As human beings, we are extremely adaptable to our surroundings, whether they happen around us or we create them ourselves. I don’t understand much about evolution, if anything, but I am pretty convinced that our survival instincts will always be there, even if it has to jump some transition from the physical to the social, for example. Despite wars and bar brawls, our goal, as far as I may understand it, is to survive. Whether that means clubbing someone or making a lot of money, the instinct is very much alive. Just kind of shape shifts with our evolution.
In fact, I’m of the mind that without it, whatever the situation, we’d be nothing but dreams and memories for the vultures that would be picking our bones clean.

@sabine That’s awesome to hear. Unfortunately the state of affairs here is still such that “gay” is pretty much the worst insult anyone can come up with to throw at a guy in high school. At least, that has been my experience.