Groupthink has always intrigued me. I think 90% of socialized male behavior in public is based on an assessment of how they will look to other men. I can't speak for their behavior in private, but I would assume the private is informed by the public. And a lot of what is thought to look "good" to other men involves objectifying, arrogance, and lack of respect, not just based on gender, but based on any number of other qualities arbitrarily chosen. It's fascinating -- in a train wreck sort of way -- that a socialized individual would rather fit in with whatever the group is doing, however disrespectful or repellant it might be, than act civilly. The alternative, however, is not to be socialized, which also has the extra benefit of rendering one a target. (The same may be true for female social groups, but I don't have any expertise there.)
I remember once looking up the meaning of the word "cupcaking," which was current slang a few years ago (might still be, for all I know). Seems it meant "Paying more attention to your girlfriend/boyfriend than other people in a group." What intrigued me about that was that it was a pejorative term, ie it was somehow wrong to pay more attention to the gf/bf. The Group is all. With males, anyway, groupthink can easily lead to feeding-frenzy-like behavior. Scary stuff, frankly.
(Hey, here's sexism for you: spell check thinks "bf" is just fine, but doesn't like "gf."
-- Mal
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