Have Males Always been the Problem?

Have you ever wondered why there have been so many bad happenings in human history? Why are there so many bad actors? Sadly, I came to realize that it was largely caused by the male sex. That's not to say that women can't act badly, but the statistics are clearly weighted toward males as the cause of most of the bad events throughout all of history.

United States FBI statistics of 2012 document that 73.5% of criminal behavior is male-caused versus 26.2% by women of the 10 million criminal acts across all categories. Noted psychologist Steven Pinker argues in his book The Better Angels of Our Nature (2011) that historically high levels of male violence can be explained by psychological mechanisms that he calls "inner demons," such as predation, dominance, and revenge. Males commit more crimes than females, particularly violent ones, a trend supported by arrest and victimization data globally. This disparity is attributed to a combination of factors, including socialization into roles that may emphasize aggression, evolutionary differences, and potential biological factors. As of February 2017, 93.3 percent of federal inmates were men, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

There are many causes of war and armed conflict. The Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights recognizes that there are currently 110 armed conflicts worldwide. These break down as follows: Non-international Armed Conflicts (first number) and International Armed Conflicts (second number): Middle East and North Africa 45/0, Africa 35/0, Asia 19/2, Europe 2/5, and Latin America 6/0. These are male-caused events.

Forty years ago, I felt that the most important thing was to know about the most eminent and good people in history. I identified fewer than two thousand great influencers of world civilization and the betterment of the planet. I had a website devoted to them. David Crystal’s Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia lists twenty thousand notables of all time, but most are not “great,” albeit famous or notable. I realized that extolling great individuals and emulating them is not sufficient. It is the bad-behaved people who need to be dealt with.

Many great and good human events in world history can be laid at the feet of men. Men have exhibited highly principled behaviors, and many of these historical events were positive, life-giving, and culturally progressive. Men are responsible for some of the greatest events, scientific achievements, and democratic political systems with citizen representation. However, males have also been responsible for most of the negative and destructive events in human history. At the core is Destructive Self-Interest. The root cause of this is a mixture of male biology, childhood development, peer group, cultural, and media influences.

The male sex is responsible for bad behaviors in all dimensions, including war, racism, brutality, murder, domestic violence, human and animal abuse, rape, pedophilia, pornography, human trafficking, bullying, abuse of political power, and destruction of nature. Amidst greatness, bad male behavior continues to thrive in the form of unconscionable acts. Males are the problem, although not all of us, but we all need to be the solution. We need to take stock of our leaders and ourselves, and check our own bad behaviors and those of others. Only then can we earn respect, rather than expect it or demand it.

Every day in the press, people of great influence act in destructive ways. Violence and killings fill the news. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for individuals who are either current or former heads of state. Vladimir Putin (Russia): A warrant was issued in March 2023 for alleged war crimes in Ukraine. Benjamin Netanyahu (Israel): The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Israel's Prime Minister on charges of war crimes related to the conflict in Gaza. Min Aung Hlaing (Myanmar): An arrest warrant was issued in late November 2024 for Myanmar's acting president on charges of crimes against humanity related to the persecution of Rohingya Muslims. Omar al-Bashir (Sudan): The former President of Sudan has had active ICC warrants for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in Darfur since 2009. Joseph Kony (Uganda): The founder and leader of the Lord's Resistance Army remains the ICC's longest-standing fugitive, with an arrest warrant active since 2005.

Male personality traits comprise degrees of dominance, control, aggression, and a lack of empathy that create conflict. On the other hand, women generally seek compromise. Their focus is on the needs of others, with greater care, cooperation, and collaboration.

In The Better Angels of Our Nature, Steven Pinker says, “Traditional war is a man's game: tribal women never band together and raid neighboring villages to abduct grooms.” And “But over the long sweep of history, women have been, and will be, a pacifying force.” In her 1938 essay “Three Guineas,” Virginia Woolf wrote that "War is a man's game.” She claims the "killing machine has a gender and it is male."

Sex differences in aggression are one of the most robust and oldest findings in psychology. Males, regardless of age, engaged in more physical and verbal aggression, while females engaged in more indirect aggression, such as spreading rumors or gossip. Males tend to engage in more unprovoked aggression at a higher frequency than females. Summarized from "Gender Differences in Personality and Social Behavior," Del Giudice, Marco (2015).

In her book My Several Worlds, Pearl S. Buck said, "The test of a civilization is in the way that it cares for its helpless members.” Our world leaders, our community leaders, our fathers, and our young adults should all act in the best interests of others, not solely in their own.

The idea of a male-dominant culture is the problem versus a human-dominant culture. No dominance is the goal. Male behavior is mainly about “I”, the self, and self-centeredness. For example: “What I want,” “What I want you to do,” and “How I am stronger and smarter than you.” With most women, it’s about “We”, the other, and joint-focused. For example: “What should we do? “What do you think?” and “How should we proceed?” Women generally build consensus and cooperation.

The names in the news are all very familiar to us. These are world leaders, politicians, many wealthy and successful mega-millionaires and even billionaires. We need to ask whether what they are doing is in the best interest of others or is self-serving. How much does destructive self-interest operate in their actions and decisions that impact the groups with which they work, the countries they lead, and the people they represent? Do average people act with other people’s welfare in mind?

Destructive acts of self-interest are most often perpetrated by males, often against other males. The root causes can be revenge, anger, thwarting justice, jealousy, excitement, greed, economic gain, racism, lack of guilt, sexual gratification, and inflicting pain.

Most men are good and try to do good, but too many of them have serious negative impacts. They create wars, misuse power for personal gain, and foment conflict. They have taken advantage of others for personal aggrandizement. The history of the world is littered with tyrants, dictators, autocratic leaders, charismatic and non-charismatic, and destructive individuals. In popular culture, this is also true. Crimes and wrongdoing are frequent.

We men need to recognize our denial, rationalization, and minimization of our bad male behavior. There are not just some rotten apples; those apples are us. We are all from the same tree. We need to accept the roots of the tree, and the fruit of good and bad male behavior is a moral obligation. We as men are all responsible.

We need to better understand and combat male bad behavior in all cultures, populations, and age groups. The only way to effect real change is to raise awareness of our role in negative behaviors, coupled with honest, open conversation.

Richard K. Templeton, MD, is a practicing psychiatrist in his hometown of Annapolis, Maryland. Templeton is the founder of Bad Male Behavior.