Nothing like a complex slurry to start a conversation. You go first. No. Wait. I'll go first. The men — all white Brits — were shown 5 female images, all the same except for breast size. The most common answer was to say that the one in the middle was the best. James Hamblin, the Atlantic's Health editor, takes that to mean that "The most-preferred breast size is 'medium.'" They were taking a science-y survey, so deference to authority and desire to be socially acceptable would be an influence along with real-world sexual preference. These same men were tested on:
Attitudes Toward Women Scale (sample prompt: ''Intoxication among women is worse than intoxication among men.'')The scientists found "men who more strongly endorsed benevolently sexist attitudes toward women, who more strongly objectified women, and who were more hostile toward women idealized a large female breast size." Were these men really the ones who "idealized a large female breast size," or were they simply the ones who didn't feel as strongly compelled to moderate their opinions to conform to the perceived demands of polite society?
Hostility Towards Women Scale (sample prompt: ''I feel that many times women flirt with men just to tease them or hurt them.")
Benevolent Sexism subscale of the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (sample prompt: "Women, as compared to men, tend to have a more refined sense of culture and good taste.")
Here's the study, ludicrously titled "Men’s Oppressive Beliefs Predict Their Breast Size Preferences in Women."
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45 comments:
Sounds like the Atlantic's Health editor needs to get a real girlfriend.
Suggested comparison study:
"Women Who Idealize Large Penises Are More Likely Sore Choosers"
In a companion study it was found that women with large breasts suffer from hostility from other women.
The statement 'I feel that many times women flirt with men just to tease them or hurt them' is used as an example of hostility toward women. Great example of scientific rigor there.
Chickelit gets there first, again.
That anyone actually did a study like this & wasted this money in this day and age is ridiculous.
A much better study would have consisted in paying a mega-porn site for its meta-data on categories browsed by user name & seeing if there were any correlations that could be made between big-boob guys & other categories that might point towards hostility to women (e.g. rough sex).
Such a study would also eliminate the self-moderation bias that the Professor thought might be affecting the outcome.
PS: Chickelit @4:19 Very Good!
Here's my hypothesis:
Large breasts = pronounced sexual difference. Thus if you like large breasts, you have a tendency to think men and women are quite different.
If, on the other hand, you prefer A cups, that might be because you want to minimize the differences between the sexes. You favor a uni-sex approach, and are more inclined to say women and men are equal in all things.
For instance, this question...
"Intoxication among women is worse than intoxication among men."
If you recognize sex difference, you might say that intoxication among women is worse because it leaves them far more vulnerable to rape, pregnancy etc.
Or the "hostile" question, that women like to flirt with men. If you think of women sexually, you are more likely to think of flirting behavior. But if you think of women professionally, you are more inclined to dismiss or ignore flirting behavior.
So big breasts might be an indicator of how much you associate women with sex, and thus how willing you are to recognize sex difference.
I'd title this "Ridiculous Surveyors Hate Men And Women."
Note they didn't ask about my preference in women.
Peter
There may be partial truth. As a small child under three males see like a child and idolize Mother's seemingly large breasts.
Many young men, and old men who have never grown up, also hate mother for still controlling them and her big breasts too for having power over them.
Many women come to think large breasts are all men want as evidenced by buying expensive and painful augmentation jobs to get some of the attention.
The smaller but perfectly shaped breasts are perfection itself. If size matters, smaller is better than bigger.
Useful Stereotypes Ratified by Useful Idiots.
Confirmation Bias Confirmed.
Lab Geeks of Indeterminate Sex Fear Giant Boobies.
So how does this correlate to women getting cosmetic breast surgery? Most go larger, fewer go smaller. Does this mean that those choosing to go larger are self-loathing in some regard, choosing a more hostile environment? It seems to me that is not the case and women find it desirable as well as the resultant response from society (including men).
The study seems like a waste of time and money and an exercise in white male bashing. Both would have been better spent helping improve manners and etiquette.
Next in science news: men who like women are insecure and driven by oppressive animal desire.
This is an important subject. Now that we've found the Higg's bison, perhaps better minds can explore this matter. It's obvious that further research needs to be done..... How great would it be to get a Guggenheim grant to study women's breasts.
William said:
Now that we've found the Higgs Boson, perhaps better minds can explore this matter.
From the Higgs Boson to the Higgs Bosom.
Small, medium, large, or Jesus Christ look at those!, they're all good as long as they're real.
That first "attitude" statement is pretty stupid. It is a scientific fact that the average woman is more strongly affected by alcohol, on a per-drink basis, than the average man is.
It is all about body mass, people. Maybe social scientists haven't noticed this, but in the human species the female is generally smaller than the male.
All the attitude questions are stupid.
The whole premise is stupid.
Since when has that stopped any study?
Well, I'm a leg and butt man m'self, so I don't really care.
Ludicrous. Plus they were British.
I like a woman's curves. They are a distinguishing physical feature.
As for objectifying women, who does that? Are women mere incubators? Are women mere sex toys? Why do they insist on corrupting our biological roles? Why do they insist that our biological roles preclude other pursuits throughout our life?
That said, efforts to extrapolate from the individual to taint a general population, including nearly half of humanity, should be considered offensive (emotional appeal) and inadequate (objective, assuming we recognize individual dignity).
This study is nonsense. Judge a man not by his baser instincts, but by the character of his actions.
"Women, as compared to men, tend to have a more refined sense of culture and good taste"
Sociologists, as compared to humans, tend to have a more refined sense of idiocy and self-aggrandizement.
Ugh. In my day a person who asked a survey question like that had to wear a lacrosse helmet in the halls.
traditionalguy:
I prefer the whole woman with bigger or smaller, natural breasts, other than those which follow from circumstances beyond her control.
I think some women are overly obsessed, and thereby deceived, by their stereotype of men.
When we die, do we not die alone?
I am man, not men. I desire a woman, not women, for physical, mental, and emotional companionship. A woman's breasts represent only a subset of the first requirement.
That said, you are right. They should replace "idealize" with "idolize", and they should be the featured subjects in the next study, which will evaluate perception distortion through projection and displacement, and its quantitative and qualitative effect on ego.
My wife is smarter and more accomplished than I am, but I take what these scientists consider the "sexist" position on all the questions listed in this post (I won't read the article). I also like big breasts. And medium breasts. And small breasts.
"... It's the first study to make these associations. Which is interesting, though the explanations Swami and Tovée posit are complex and hypothetical; a slurry of power, sexuality, and gender identity."
aka It's bullshit justification for their conclusion. Sucks to be them.
There may be something here?
I've always been a derriere affectionato. I'm happy to follow any woman anywhere she goes.
;-)
So if you are hostile to a particular woman does that make her breasts grow? If you soften do they shrink? There is always a corollary.
A slurry of preconception, poorly concealed bias, badly designed testing and junk science.
Flat chested woman here - always had a lot of platonic males friends. I would have said those who idolized large breasts had a more needy, complicated relationship with thier mothers. That's what always stood out for me. I have come across the theory that men who prioritize breasts had mothers that picked them up and cuddled them more as children. Those prioritizing anything below the waist had moms that tended not to pick them up so much, thus they clung to their legs..and became leg and/or ass men.
It's just an opportunity to call heterosexual men "sexists".
Thats what the study is supposed to conclude, otherwise, the grant money gets cut off.
ALP,
I love both flat chested and big breasted women.
What diagnosis do you have for me?
In a companion study it was found that women with large breasts suffer from hostility from other women.
And from another thread, women clearly dislike other women who are thin. Thus, we can conclude that women dislike women men like -- that is, the competition. Ann Althouse runs some impressive case studies, but what would the feminists say?
Just got back from the library, where I was reminded why I can still stand to read the Economist, but rarely the Atlantic. And why I don't subscribe to either anymore.
"It's the first study to make these associations."
Snort. Yeah, right, maybe if you learned to read last year.
My dad used to complain that young-ish researchers were always coming in to propose airborne science projects which had been done before. He kept a file cabinet behind his desk, and said that nine times out of ten he could turn around and find the relevant report in 30 seconds or less.
It's all about spending the budgeted money, and justifying your existence in the academic or government hierarchy.
Bleagh. My tax dollars at work.
Tits or GTFO.
"idealize" is a very strange word in this context.
Yesterday was "Steak and Blowjob Day."
I want a longitudinal study on the rate of couple compliance with that date.
My own guess is, sadly, low.
Tits, cocks, pussy, anus, dildos.
Get real or GTFO!@
What kind of misogynist reads Playboy?
This thread says it all, and the study says more about the scientist than its purported subject.
Is this the group pushing that 5 cent psychiatric help? I'm in for a dime.
I like flat chested women. I like the study.
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