Comments on: Male Brains Turn Women With Bikinis Into Objects

By: bryan

bryan — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:28:32 +0000

Duros, kudos to you for mentioning Rene Magritte, my favourite surrealist (The Healer – just great), favourite Belgian (not a difficult title to win) and a man who makes Dali look like a hack.

By: Porlock Junior

Porlock Junior — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 05:45:37 +0000

“Brain scans revealed that when men are shown pictures of scantily clad women, the region of the brain associated with tool use lights up.”
Heh — he said tool!

By: bikelib

bikelib — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 04:51:47 +0000

I’m sorry, Oliver, were you saying something?

By: C.S.Strowbridge

C.S.Strowbridge — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:51:19 +0000

“Yes, but then I wouldn’t have had an excuse to post a bikini pic today, would i?”

And I appreciate you choosing Hilary Duff.

On a side note, the last contest I ever won was for a couple Hilary Duff CDs.

By: Duros62

Duros62 — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:12:21 +0000

Yes, but then I wouldn’t have had an excuse to post a bikini pic today, would i?

Ha! Like you need an excuse with this crowd.

By: Duros62

Duros62 — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:10:43 +0000

Ceci n'est pa une femme.

By: Oliver Willis

Oliver Willis — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:26:01 +0000

Yes, but then I wouldn’t have had an excuse to post a bikini pic today, would i?

By: C.S.Strowbridge

C.S.Strowbridge — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:09:17 +0000

Chris Russell says: “I’m no scientist, but I’m guessing they controlled for this by showing pictures of people clothed differently.”

But you are going to react differently to a picture than you would a live person.

Even a still picture and a movie will change how you react.

By: Quaker in a Basement

Quaker in a Basement — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:29:41 +0000

If a similar study were done with women, Fiske told National Geographic News, it would be hard to predict whether a woman shown a scantily clad male body would dehumanize him in the same way.

Bah!

In other words, we can’t tell if this behavior is male, straight-male, straight-male/gay-female, or just human. The fact that the photos of bikini-clad women cropped out their heads is also suspect.

There are too many loose ends here.

Repeat the study, showing the same photo set to straight females. Repeat the study, showing the same photo set to lesbians. Repeat the study, showing similar photos of men to straight men.

Then there might be something worth discussing.

By: Chris Russell

Chris Russell — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:53:26 +0000

I just read the article, and it turns out they did have a fully-clothed photo set for comparison.

Interestingly, though, they chose to crop the subjects’ heads out of the bikini photos. I wonder if they did the same for all the pictures. If not, I could definitely see that change affecting the outcome.

By: Chris Russell

Chris Russell — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:49:47 +0000

I’m no scientist, but I’m guessing they controlled for this by showing pictures of people clothed differently.

By: C.S.Strowbridge

C.S.Strowbridge — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:07:41 +0000

Here’s the thing… A picture of a woman in a Bikini is an object.

Now, if it was a real woman who would hold a conversation with the men, and the result were the same, then I would be intrigued by the results.