Althouse: "[R]omcoms that feature men engaging in stalker-like behaviour can make women more likely to tolerate obsessiveness from prospective romantic partners."

February 4, 2016

"[R]omcoms that feature men engaging in stalker-like behaviour can make women more likely to tolerate obsessiveness from prospective romantic partners."

According to "I Did It Because I Never Stopped Loving You/The Effects of Media Portrayals of Persistent Pursuit on Beliefs About Stalking" by Julia R. Lippman. Lippman's subjects watched films that romanticized stalking ("There’s Something About Mary" and "Management") or films that depicted male aggression or neutral films and then answered some questions about the seriousness of stalking behavior.

Here's The Guardian's report on the study.

20 comments:

Lem Vibe Bandit said...: "That's part of your problem: you haven't seen enough movies. All of life's riddles are answered in the movies." The Grand Canyon (1991); 2/4/16, 6:28 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: We continue to manufacture make work academic jobs for women who should be home taking care of kids, a home and a husband, even as the barbarians are storming the gates.

At least the Muslim barbarians will satisfy the rape fantasies of these women who should be sitting in their husband's home.; 2/4/16, 6:44 AM
buwaya said...: Movies?
This is normal behavior in all the history of western theater.
My favorite stage anything is Cyrano de Bergerac -1897 - and except for the tragic parts and brilliant wit its a rom com with a stalker-protagonist, or rather two of them.
There are hundreds of similar things going back to, well, pretty much all Spanish theater of the 16th-17th century, which was the foundation of everything on any European stage (what, you thought Shakespeare did?). I don't think there is anything on stage and screen that Lope de Vega and his colleagues hadn't done first. Except maybe Cyrano.; 2/4/16, 6:52 AM
Mary Beth said...: They showed people excerpts of the movies, not the whole movies. That just makes me think that they're good at pulling the bits from the movies that will get the desired responses from study participants.; 2/4/16, 6:58 AM
buwaya said...: And, in case the connection is missed, the Southern European custom of courtship required the boy to stalk the girl, within and to the limit of propriety. This was expected. One arranged to run across the lass in church, on the evening paseo, through mutual acquaintances, to wangle invitations, to distract the duena, and, if needs must and there was enough talent at hand, to serenade her under her window. Half of Filipino traditional music forms are pieces suitable and intended for this, and this is why guitar was a useful skill.
I think all this Hispano-Italian stuff, sneaking into France and Germany and England, is the core of all the tropes of romance in general European popular culture.
One can trace the origin and development of, say, Don Giovanni, just this way. Starts in Spain, hops to France, is elaborated on by an Italian, set to music by an Austrian, and spread everywhere else by popular culture. The core of the thing though is alien to Britons and Germans and even Frenchmen. The situation and the Archetype are Southern.; 2/4/16, 7:10 AM
buwaya said...: Sadly, I read this foolish thing. The Guardian and their pet academics haven't got the slightest concept of romance. These people are miserable, cold and frightened.; 2/4/16, 7:20 AM
tim maguire said...: "There's Something About Mary" most certainly did not portray stalking positively. However, almost every John Cusack teen movie did (Lloyd Dobler as one typical example) and women loved him for it.; 2/4/16, 7:28 AM
Biff said...: While I can see the point of the study, the first thing I thought of was the classic Saturday Night Live "Sexual Harassment and You" skit with Tom Brady. http://www.hulu.com/watch/295600; 2/4/16, 7:38 AM
Tank said...: I have a B.A. in Psych. This kind of "science" is one reason I practice law.

I had to get out.

The field is very interesting; what is more interesting than the study of people? We all do that. But the field is so full of batshit crazy BS ... I had to get out. Well, that's one reason.; 2/4/16, 7:48 AM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: Most women prefer that men put a little effort into demonstrating their interest, whether their peer group allows them to admit that or not.
I can see how a certain brand of domineering women might not be able to tell the difference between "stalking" and "being bothered to show her you want her."; 2/4/16, 7:53 AM
MisterBuddwing said...: Have we already forgotten "The Graduate"?

("ELAINE!"); 2/4/16, 7:54 AM
n.n said...: Reverse-reverse psychology.; 2/4/16, 7:56 AM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: A movie showing a man too apathetic or timid to woo a woman would be boring and depressing to watch, and any such real life man would be a spectacular romantic and sexual failure.; 2/4/16, 7:58 AM
Nick said...: I'll see your stalker-RomCom, and raise you 50 Shades of Grey. This rubbish is "forced" on us because enough women actually pay it.; 2/4/16, 7:59 AM
buwaya said...: Or rather, this stuff is forced on us because it is closer to genuine human nature, leaving aside personal and social aberrations. It hits part of the brain that is primed to respond. It's got an extremely long track record - consider the pedigree. It has always worked for a reason.; 2/4/16, 8:07 AM
Jaq said...: My favorite quote from The Grand Canyon? "People's troubles always begin when somebody decides they could be a little happier."; 2/4/16, 8:48 AM
Peter said...: Is it really news that the difference between a stalker and a successful courtship is not defined by the man's behavior, but by the woman's reaction to it?; 2/4/16, 8:50 AM
Jaq said...: I had a friend who was short, ginger, and otherwise completely unprepossessing and his wife was really hot and they were happily married. Somehow the subject came up and he basically said that he was "persistent as hell." He wasn't gifted with a silver tongue either.; 2/4/16, 8:51 AM
Jaq said...: Is it really news that the difference between a stalker and a successful courtship is not defined by the man's behavior, but by the woman's reaction to it?

Exactly right! I think that about closes discussion on this. There really isn't any more to be said.; 2/4/16, 8:53 AM
Anthony said...: Cannot be overlooked: Romantic-Comedy Behavior Gets Real-Life Man Arrested; 2/4/16, 12:12 PM