Instincts are complex predispositions that can result in very strange behavior. For example "neuroticism is significantly positively correlated with PPD". (Postpartum depression)

[bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com]

The irony of course is that neuroticism is nature's way of making it impossible for females to ignore infants but females suffering from extreme cases of PPD sometimes kill their babies to relieve the symptoms. Milder neuroticism may also cause stress in females leading to poor interpersonal relationships. This is seen in the tendency of females to off load stress onto people in their social circle. They do this by forming tighter bonds with other females and being "bitchy". Other instincts may combine with neuroticism such as hypergamy and cuckoldry resulting in pushing males away. It may also play a role in gossiping when combined with the female instinct to form tight exclusive groups.

The point I'm trying to make is that a better understanding of the nature and purpose of instincts can cast a light on the relationships between males and females.

Instincts by definition are subconscious. We exist as conscious beings in which the idea of self is largely restricted to conscious existence. We call instincts feelings because we often only become aware of them through physiological changes. It's why emotions can sometimes feel "alien". Almost as if some other being is controlling us. It seems to especially be a phenomenon associated with "love". Romantic love in particular may leave to confusion because it is heavily influenced by culturally evolved habits of mind. Those culturally evolved "habits of mind" are often at odds with instinct. That can result in very strange behavior indeed. For example stalking and other obsessive compulsive behavior. Instincts it turns out cannot be satisfied. You never stop being hungry or thirsty. By extension "love" cannot be satisfied. The conflict between culture and instinct can be so strong that it is expressed in what is called "love sickness". In a way cultural restrictions on behavior can become a physical or psychological ailment. Psychologists will tell you that psychosis are almost never contagious but that is misleading. A well documented example would be shared hallucinations during certain religious experiences. The same phenomenon is present in politics to the extent that emotions play a role. It isn't unreasonable to assume it plays a role in movements such as feminism. Where the suppression of instinct becomes self reinforcing as that suppression becomes a means to increase emotional intensity by the "perversion" of instinct. A kind of "masochism" or the tendency to derive pleasure, especially sexual gratification, from one's own pain or humiliation.

It is my opinion that it is wise to have sympathy for people caught up in mass hysteria. White guilt and male feminism being relevant to events in society today. Anger is rarely a positive emotion in a social context. People are more likely to follow a positive example of strong individuals to a desirable outcome than those that are authoritarian and weak. How we live our lives can be an example for good or bad. Social contagion is real and we need to be careful how it effects social outcomes.