gregwho.

That’s the title of this “study” I’m reading right now conducted at UT Austin and this probably pissed me off more than it should have.

The study enumerates 88 factors that make women appear more “exploitable” (i.e. lip biting, immaturity, other random bullshit). Photos illustrating this type of behavior were shown to men. Then, they were then asked to rate the “desirability” of these woman. Across the board, these men found women with these so-called vulnerable traits more attractive than women that portrayed other traits such as intelligence, sophistication and the like.

Okay, so there’s link to the actual study and no elaboration of how the data was analyzed - cool story. My biggest gripe is that the study only used 76 men. Does it even mention the age range? No, and as much as I’d love to argue for diverse melting pot of cultures and ethnic backgrounds that intermingle in Austin, 76 men can’t represent of the entire male species. Sorry Austin.

Why do I care so much? Because it’s articles like these that turn women into jaded cynics. Someone cited this article to me today in an argument about what men look for in women. I see articles like this all the time, and part of me cringes at the thought of someone treating these oversimplified studies like gospel and proclaiming that science has “proven” that men or women are predetermined to think and act a certain way.

Plus, it sucks trying to reason with someone who blindly swears by an article suggesting that women should be more “vulnerable” to attract men. So basically - men are psychologically doomed to be assholes, right? I believe men have appetites - sexual (let’s not kid ourselves), intellectual, emotional and so on. The kind of women that men find attractive heavily depends on a balance and hierarchy of those appetites. Most importantly, this is not something you can assert to be same for every man. Personally, I cannot stand women who act dumb as a means of attracting male attention. I don’t how much you bit your lips. End rant.