Third Eye writes:
I suspect that there’s some significant gender bias as to who gets diagnosed sociopathic and who gets diagnosed borderline. Both types are manipulative, and a calculated display of emotional instability often provides a ready-made excuse for sociopathic behavior. Some “borderlines” (particularly female ones) seem to be sociopaths with a superficial emotional veneer for manipulating others and avoiding accountability.
Really what it seems is that Narcissistic Personality Disorder is the male component to Borderline Personality Disorder. The females get Borderline; the males get Narcissistic.
On the other hand, Borderlines and narcissists do tend to act quite a bit differently. I think narcissists are a lot more functional. Quite a few borderlines are so nuts that they are pretty much disabled and can hardly even work. I have never heard of a narcissist disabled like that.
Calculated emotional displays seem more in line with the sociopath and the narcissist. Borderlines can be calculating and wicked, but their emotional stuff mostly seems genuine and not faked. They truly are emotionally out of control, and this is the way they like to be.
I think borderlines and narcissists are one condition that simply manifests differently in the two genders due to gender differences, some of them biological.
That said, there are female narcissists (very annoying and some are even evil), and there are definitely male borderlines. Male borderlines are very bad. Many are in jail or prison. They have a high rate of homosexuality and bisexuality, drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, etc. They can be quite violent and out of control. You really do not want to meet a male borderline. They are no good.
Yes, there are more male sociopaths than female sociopaths. I am not sure what a female sociopath even looks like, but I have seen some online, and they seem pretty evil. They are probably not as dangerous as the males.
The true component of male sociopathy would be Histrionic Personality Disorder. HPD is the female version of the sociopath. It is pretty common, but I am not sure if I ever met one. They are very abusive. The classic HPD personality is “the whore.” Prostitutes, porn stars, strippers, etc. have high rates of HPD. The HPD archetype is the “femme fatale.” The spy Mata Hari was the classic femme fatale and a possible HPD.
Male histrionics are not common, but as you might guess, they have very high rates of homosexuality and bisexuality. This is the dramatic, flamboyant, manipulative, crafty, shallow, promiscuous, gaudy, showy, greedy homosexual type we all know well. Not that all gay men are like this; of course they are not, but most of us would recognize the “type” above as a well-known gay male “type” along the gay male personality spectrum.
Histrionics and narcissists are quite common in the acting profession as you might guess, especially narcissists. Hollywood probably has more narcissists per capita than anywhere else on Earth. In fact, I think most actors and rock star types (especially lead singers) tend to be narcissistic. Their narcissism is often the reason for their oft-noted screwed up lives. A Hollywood marriage is often two narcissistic actors. Narcissists love themselves only. These marriages do not have a long life expectancy.
There is a joke where the journalist is interviewing an actor, and the actor says, “Well! Enough about me. Let’s talk about you. What did you think of my last movie?”
See?
What you have here is two basic personality types:
A Borderline/Narcissistic type which will manifest as borderline in the female and narcissist in the male.
A Sociopath/Histrionic type which will manifest as sociopath in the male and histrionic in the female.
