6 Things Everyone Knows About Women (That Aren't True)
We previously pointed out how some crude, absurd gender stereotypes are in fact proven true by science. But, in the interest of not letting 60s sitcoms have the last word on the differences between men and women, we should point out how many things "everyone knows" about women just plain aren't true, according to science. Like...
#6.
Women Aren't As Aggressive
Remember that nursery rhyme about what little girls and little boys are made of? Boys are made of errant amphibians, mollusks and puppy parts while girls are made of sugar and spice and all that's nice. It'd be an adorable if it didn't also sum up gender expectations for the rest of your life.
Snails and dog tails make you more aggressive.
When we grow up, women are more likely to be penalized for displaying too much aggression, while men are rewarded for the exact same behavior.
Sometimes with millions of dollars.
When actually ...
Women might be the more aggressive of the genders.
Researchers found that when you deindividuate a person--or place the person in a situation where he or she doesn't have an individual identity--aggressive attitudes are amplified. This makes sense. It's probably why Marines are required to wear the same uniform, and hipsters are such pussies. Well, they tested this in the lab by having men and women play an interactive video game that required killing other players by dropping bombs on them.
They found that under normal circumstances, men dropped far more bombs than women. But in the deindividuated groups, women out-attacked the men every time, with an average of about five more bombs dropped per session.
Might as well face it, you're addicted to MASS MURDER.
Putting people, particularly women, in a situation where they are anonymous and don't have to conform to societal expectations is very powerful psychologically. And by very powerful, we mean it turns them into an unfeeling murder machines.
#5.
Women Aren't as Horny as Men
When it comes to the topic of sex drive, everyone knows the stereotypes: Men are shameless swine who will nail anything with a pulse, and women are only interested in lovemaking that satisfies them on an emotional level.
Think back on your adolescence, and it seems self-evident, doesn't it? Boys are so sex-driven that they literally have to hide their protruding penises (penii?) with baggy jeans and Trapper Keepers. Girls rarely have that problem. And as adults, we all know that it's mostly men, not women, populating the porn-viewing public. The Kinsey Institute even says so. Obviously, men are much more interested in sex. Case closed.
When actually ...
Women are probably just as horny as men--they just don't want you to know it.
The "fan and demure smile" look is just a more elegant "hard-on poking through the jeans."
A recent study asked a large group of test subjects about their sexual behavior but put some clever controls in place. One group of respondents gave their answers while connected to a polygraph machine, and a second group was put in a with a researcher and told that their answers would be monitored. A control group was told their answers would remain completely anonymous.
It turns out that when women were faced with the chance of someone seeing their answers (the group with the researcher in the room) they all suddenly became contestants in a Miss Chastity pageant, reporting only half the number of sexual partners that the group connected to the lie detector claimed. But the women connected to the polygraph actually reported more sexual partners than the men in the same control group.
"Well, there's the weekly foursome, the monthly "Lezz-In" and the occasional anonymous stall sex."
Experts interpreted this as women feeling "pressure to adhere to sex role expectations that indicate (they) should be more relationship-oriented and should avoid being seen as promiscuous." Just like with the bombing experiment, take away what society expects of us, and our true colors show.
Most of those colors are shades of pink.
On a related note...
#4.
Only Men Like Porn
The pimps who make up the advertising world have known for decades that the best way to catch a man's eye (and money) is with copious amounts of T&A. Men will line up to buy a large-caliber gunshot to the face as long as there's a scantily clad woman in a submissive pose somewhere telling them how awesome it's going to be.
But what about women? It's been widely believed that the fairer sex isn't affected by erotic imagery to the same degree that men are. And not just in advertising, but in movies, magazines or any other forms in which it might appear. Which is why you don't see half-naked beefcake flanking bottles of hair conditioner.
When actually ...
According to this study, women's brains react just as quickly to erotic images as men's do--and in fact the reaction may even be stronger.
They even use different "circuits" to process them as opposed to the pathways that are reserved for everyday images. Using EEG electrodes to monitor brain activity, researchers showed a group of female subjects pictures that ranged from pleasant to disturbing. Everything was cool until they got to photos that showed couples engaged in sensual poses.
Erotic images elicited neurons to fire at 160 milliseconds, which was 20 percent faster than even the quickest reactions to the non-erotic pictures--even if those pictures depicted immediate danger, like a snarling animal.
Above: less interesting than a penis.
If you've heard that stuff about how erotica turns women on only if there's some kind of deep backstory or emotional connection to what's going on, keep this in mind: 160 milliseconds means the women's brains were lighting up in response to the naked people well before they even consciously registered what they were seeing. Way before the thinking part of their brains could warm up, they already had an immediate, knee-jerk animal response that screamed, "LOOK! A BONER!"
Aaaww a sweet kitty!
ReplyTHIS ARTICLE FOR PRESIDENT! DAVE EASTON FOR VP!
ReplyI am a woman doing a Ba of maths, and the only reason I don't watch more porn is because so much of it is shit. but good quality porn is ace :) and I too always thought the stereotype was that girls were better at math (and everything school related) than boys
ReplyI always thought the stereotype was that girls were better at math than boys.
ReplyWhere I come from, if you take 25% out of 100%, you are left with 75%. If men are 25% of the eating disorder sufferers, who are the other 75% that make men "just as likely to suffer from an eating disorder"? 25% women & 50% kangaroos? Hermaphrodites? What? You really blew that one.
ReplyAs a math-majoring woman with a porn addiction, I can really relate to this article. Every point is valid.
ReplyOf course, not every woman has the same personality, which is why gender stereotypes are silly at all.
Gooooo Androgyny! ^_~
Speaking of which, Tilda Swinton, will you f*****g marry me? *o*
Alright, first off, every point here is completely valid. I see the most objections to 'women aren't as horny as men.' if you were a woman, would you admit to watching porn all the time? The recurrent theme here is that people unconsciously conform to these stereotypes because theyare so prevalent and widely believed. This means that inless you have solid, conflicting proof, throw what you know out the window. And is there any possible evolutionary reason why women wouldn't be as horny as men? No. Also, as for domestic violence, commenters have already made most points about aggression, but there is one more. Around half the animal species have more aggressive females anyway!it makes perfect sense; all the better to protect your babies. That being so, the only real reason this stereotype could exist, is because who the f*** would go to the police and say, "Officer, my girlfriend hit me with a toaster and raided my porn stash too?" if you don't conform to the attribute and tougher stereotype, everyone will think he's such a wimp for getting beat up by a girl.
Replyonly idiots think that stuff is true lol.
ReplyI am a girl and funny thing is, I double majored in chem and math and never knew there was a sterotype about women being bad at math until after grad school lol.
ReplyI am highly aggressive and I do get raging woman-boners. But I am terrible at math. Also. Poor kitty!
ReplyWhen i get drunk my girlfriend beats the s**t out of me. or i fell down the stairs, i don't know i was drunk.
ReplyCuuuute...!!
ReplyAs a woman in engineering, I just wanted to say #2 is completely true. I am the only woman in my year and have been for the past two years. (Started out with 5 girls and around 45 guys ... now just 1 girl and 18 guys.) I've gotten so used to it that it's strange for me to have other classes with a bunch of women. Initially, guys in my classes did not ask for my help they would ask my lab partner rather than me. And, granted, I am absolutely worthless with a tool kit but quite good in my math and theory courses ... I'm actually number 1 in our class and yes a little part of me absolutely revels in that fact ...
ReplyIt's really sad that there's this myth out there that women aren't good in math. In my experience, the women in engineering and other math and science majors are usually the best in the theory and concept department (math) while a little behind in the hands-on applications. But really, that's more a factor of our childhood than our intelligence. Teach me and I'll learn, I've just never seen it before in my life. I think that's really the driving factor. Little girls simply aren't brought up to work with tools and be handy. They aren't pushed to go out and build things and see how they work, which is ultimately a large part of research and science based careers. It's just how we are raised. Hell, I was probably more of a tomboy than most girls playing sports all my life and growing up with two brothers but even I didn't touch tools or build little model cars or boats like my brothers did. I was given the more "womanly" chores of cleaning house and such whereas my brothers were given the outdoor "manly" chores. It's just how it was.
I had no desire and still don't have one to build anything. I do, however, love math and science and will be having a career in the research field. In my very biased opinion, little girls should all grow up to love math and science. The more the merrier!
End of rant. Although I would like to add one final comment that I wrote this response surrounded by other male engineers as a take a much needed break from debugging some code to read some cracked articles. Now, end of rant.
I found out about the horny thing when I was feeling all high and mighty about masturbating twice in two hours, and my girlfriend told me that she'd already done it five times that day. At 8 AM. Needless to say, my mind was blown several times over, because further investigation revealed THAT SO MANY OTHER GIRLS ARE LIKE THIS TOO.
ReplyWomen are feisty, not aggressive.
ReplyMust agree with #4. My boyfriend says I look at porn more than he does.
Replyslut
Must agree with #4. My boyfriend says I look at porn more than he does.
ReplyJeeze... It's significantly more than him for a double post.
number 6, at least on a boyfriend seeking basis, is complete total bullshit.
ReplyNumber two, again, you use an example you have described two different ways and use the inaccurate description.
ReplyOK, had to skip right to the comments as soon as you ended number one, because you contradict yourself- you one describe 'deindividuated' situations as destroying someone's identity, making them aggressive- you use examples from hipsters and the military, then you, at the end state 'Putting people, particularly women, in a situation where they are anonymous and don't have to conform to societal expectations' makes them agressive, when YOUR EXAMPLES ARE THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF THAT! The military and hipsters are not anonymous, and they are hyper conformist- in fact people remain anonymous in order to maintain their privacy integrity and identity as an individual- ie the exact opposite of 'deindividuated' experience and circumstances- the aggression you rightly describe by the militaristic example is based on total lack of autonomy, total lack of independence, the inability to be anything but a play thing who MUST FOLLOW ORDERS, NOT TALK BACK, NEVER ASK QUESTIONS, BE COMMANDED TOWARDS ACTIONS WHICH UNDERMINE THEIR EXISTENCE AS IMPORTANT, UNIQUE, NECESSARY, VALUABLE, AND CONSEQUENTIAL ENTITIES- they are not extended the right to privacy, autonomy anonymity, they are deinviduated- the refusal and defiance which you then attribute to not having to conform is hyper identity, not a lack of it.
ReplyBut when a group of Marines bomb the f**k out of a village, nobody says "Privates Martinez, Smith, Rogers, Le Forge, and Mitchell blew up a village and Carte Haina laste night" They say "A group of Marines". Therefore, though they are conforming to the social group of being Marines, there individual actions become anonymous because they are not attributed to them individually, they are attributed to the Marines as a group. Nobody ever hears about the War Crimes that were perpetrated by an individual Soldier during a war, you hear about the War Crimes committed by the Army of ______. They only time that Military Actions are attributed to an individual is when that individual is High Ranking, such as a General. And furthermore, you are misreading the intent of the comment about Hipsters. It is saying that Hipsters, although being conformist in a sense as they all listen to the same type of music and shop at thrift stores, they also strive for a sense of Uniqueness, They dress in a certain way TO stand out, not to the same extent that Goths and Certain Punks do, but they still do. This striveing for a sense of individuality could be what you called "HYPER IDENTITY" and thus would lower there aggressive nature. It is not the Conformity of the "De-Individualization" that raises the Aggressive tendencies, it is the Anonymity. It is the "I can be as fucked-up and twisted, and inflict as much pain on others, as I have always wanted to, and Nobody is going to blame it on me." We all want to think we are peaceful and civilized, but tell me that if there weren't repercussions to your actions that there aren't at least 5 people that you would torture for at least a few hours (or days) and then kill them. My list is quite a bit longer.
WOW THE CAPITAL LETTERS REALLY MAKE ME BELIEVE YOU!