Historically, societies sent surplus young men to war or monasteries to manage their disruptive potential. Today, the internet, through video games and online communities, may be serving a similar function by absorbing their time and energy, potentially preventing real-world violence even as it fosters online hostility.

Societies with rampant polygyny suffered from "young male syndrome"—a surplus of unpartnered men causing chaos. Adopting monogamy as a cultural norm gave these men a stake in society, redirecting their energy from competition and violence towards family and community building, ultimately allowing those cultures to flourish.

The consistent pattern of men committing mass violence is rooted in biological evolution. Men are wired for aggression and physical confrontation, a trait historically selected for by women seeking protectors. This is a biological reality, not a surprising social anomaly.

Contrary to the media focus on public shootings, the most frequent form of mass murder is familicide, where a man kills his wife and children. Occurring roughly every five days in the US, this is a pattern of domestic violence often rooted in patriarchal ideas of ownership.

Patriarchal systems hurt men by limiting their acceptable emotions (e.g., only anger is okay) and discouraging deep, hands-on involvement in child-rearing, thereby robbing them of opportunities for emotional expression and intimacy with their children.

Authoritarian regimes like Russia weaponize extreme examples of Western gender discourse, such as police calling male shooters 'female.' They use this to promote 'traditional values' diplomacy, portraying the West as perverse, which consolidates their soft power and hinders local LGBTQ+ rights.

Centuries of war and political purges created a severe and persistent gender imbalance in Russia. This scarcity led to men being viewed as a precious resource to be fought over and protected. Consequently, very low societal expectations were placed on them, fostering a culture of coddled men who were not incentivized to improve.

The Russian perspective on gender roles is often inverted from the West's. Women are seen as strong and resourceful, while men are viewed as a fragile, coddled group needing protection. Consequently, Western feminism, which focuses on empowering women, is seen as having the wrong priorities for a society that needs to "lift the man."

Modern society increasingly selects for traits like low aggression and risk-taking, which are less common on average in men. This requires men to exert a greater degree of effortful 'emotional containment' to adhere to social norms, representing a cognitive and emotional cost that is rarely acknowledged.