Thursday, February 19, 2009

Re: This Just In   [Mark Steyn]

Jonah, even by the standards of generally useless studies, this one seems a bust. For a start, the headline — "Men See Bikini-Clad Women As Objects, Psychologists Say" — isn't actually what the study says:

In the men who scored highest on hostile sexism, the part of the brain associated with analyzing another person's thoughts, feelings and intentions was inactive while viewing scantily clad women, Fiske said.

Ah, right. So this sample of men were sitting around and some "scantily clad women" were brought in under controlled laboratory conditions, is that it? Maybe from the Women's Studies Department? No, not exactly:

In men, the brain areas associated with handling tools and the intention to perform actions light up when viewing images of women in bikinis.

Oh. "Images". So men see photographs of women in bikinis as objects. As Kathy Shaidle says, maybe that's because photographs are objects.

I see there's an "image" accompanying the CNN "report". I tried to "analyze her thoughts, feelings and intentions", but, knowing nothing about her other than that she looks good in a bikini, I didn't get very far. I don't know what scientific studies show, but I'd hazard a guess that men who brood on the "thoughts and feelings" of good-looking gals they know only from glamour photographs tend to wind up stalking them.

On the other hand, this Professor Fiske sounds totally hot:

"This is just the first study which was focused on the idea that men of a certain age view sex as a highly desirable goal, and if you present them with a provocative woman, then that will tend to prime goal-related responses," she told CNN.

Roses are red
Violets are blue
In hopes this goal-related response
Will prime you, too . . .

02/19 11:14 PMShare