It is possible a male’s Y chromosome increases the risk of violence, but this does not explain why the majority of people with Y chromosomes are never violent. Some theorists have argued (more plausibly in my view) that male role expectations mean that the threshold for the use of violence is lowered, so that it becomes ‘normal’ for real men. A similar argument has been made for women: that it takes more for a woman to kill because it’s somehow unnatural in terms of feminine stereotypes and social norms. It is also suggested that the maternal and caring function of women in our culture might
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