Hold onto your codpieces, y'all. You're not gonna believe the news coming out of Australia. I am currently shivering in a corner, feebly pecking away at a keyboard with my mouth, trying to finish up this post while I attempt to process all of this. Here is the lede: It's a myth that men want sex and women want relationships, says a Sydney professor, as a long-simmering gender spat reaches Australia. I am dead—and there's still more: It is not true that men are focused only on sex and women only want relationships, she says. But. But. But. But. But how could she know? Richters, an ... Read More
Girl Scouts Add ‘Game Developer’ Badge, Video Games Still Sexist

The Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles and Women in Games International are teaming up to create a new badge for girl scouts: video game development. From Girl Gamer: “Our ultimate goal is to create a STEM-aligned video game badge for the Girl Scouts of the United States of America,” said Amy Allison, vice president at WIGI. “Creating this badge will get young girls excited in technology and science and let them know that they, too, can have a career in the video game industry.” "STEM" stands for "science, technology, engineering, and mathematics," an area in which the Girl Scouts ... Read More
Why Is He Oblivious to Her Emotions?

Ladies: Do you often feel misunderstood by men? Do they fail to pick up on fairly obvious nonverbal signals, such as expressions of fear or disgust? Newly published research suggests your perception is entirely valid—but it’s not their fault. A study from Germany finds that men do a much better job of interpreting one vital set of signals—the emotions conveyed by the eyes—when they’re communicating with another man, compared to another woman. “The finding that men are superior in recognizing emotions/mental states of other men, as compared to women, might be surprising,” a ... Read More
Have You Heard the One About the Guy with Prostate Cancer?

When I was a graduate student in psychology, I worked at a cancer center. One of my responsibilities was to meet with new patients as they received, drip by drip over many hours, chemotherapy infusions. In one corner of the clinic, a woman I’ll call Lisa was battling breast cancer. Lisa’s friends had organized a complex and complete support tree for her, with meal delivery, dog walking, child care, and bill paying. Lisa snuggled into a quilt they had stitched for her. Lisa was never alone. Nearby sat “Rick,” a sinewy, divorced man in his early 60s, fresh from his latest surgery for ... Read More
Sex on the Brain Proves Costly for Men
Ladies: Do you have any idea how much power you have over us men? To quote the classic song, it seems the very thought of you is enough to dull our brains. That’s the conclusion of a research team from the Netherlands, which reports the mere anticipation of interacting with a woman can temporarily impede men’s mental abilities. In one experiment, “Casually mentioning a female instead of a male name was sufficient to impair men’s cognitive performance,” the team from the Radboud University Nijmegen Behavioral Sciences Institute writes in the Archives of Sexual Behavior. In ... Read More
New Research Suggests Everybody’s Less Satisfied
Few research papers hit a nerve like the 2009 report The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness. Over the past 35 years, “women’s happiness has declined both absolutely, and relative to men,” Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers wrote in the American Economic Journal. Some interpreted this as an indirect indictment of the feminist movement, which — the argument went — has given women more freedom but left them less content. While that was not the thesis of the paper’s authors, the notion was debated by newspaper columnists ranging from social conservative Ross Douthat to feminists ... Read More
Woman Boss May Lower Men’s Pay, Prestige
The measure of a modern man’s masculinity typically is taken in the workplace. How big is his office? How high is his salary? How impressive are his responsibilities? Newly published research adds an unexpected ingredient to this mix: What sex is his supervisor? Victoria Brescoll of the Yale School of Management reports male employees get penalized when their boss wields power in defiance of gender stereotypes. Her research suggests men in such positions suffer a loss of status and prestige due to a perceived lack of masculinity. “These results further indicate that gender ... Read More
‘Gaydar’ Accuracy Varies With Women’s Fertility Cycle
Ladies: Is your “gaydar” off? Could you swear that guy was straight, only to later see him smooching with his same-sex soul mate? Don’t fret about it. It may simply be the wrong time of the month. According to a study just published in the journal Psychological Science, women are significantly better at judging male sexual orientation as they approach peak fertility. A research team led by University of Toronto psychologist Nicholas Rule also found romantic thoughts heighten women’s ability to discriminate between gay and straight men. Rule’s previous research has found men ... Read More
Fatherhood Scholars Know Best

The post-World War II era was the age of Leave it to Beaver and Father Knows Best, when a benign patriarch's authority over his household was complete and unquestioned. Or was it? Writing in the Journal of Family History in 2004, Georgia State University sociologist Ralph LaRossa concluded the culture of fatherhood between 1945 and 1960 "was a lot more complex than the standard narratives allow." His survey of popular magazines, top-rated television series and child-rearing manuals of the day suggest the role of the father was in flux, with rigid gender roles in society becoming increasingly ... Read More
Accidental Deaths Linked to Macho Code of Honor
Be a man! That pointed phrase, often offered as a rebuke, means pretty much the same thing the world over. Be strong. Don't back down. Show some courage. What does differ from one culture to another is how seriously such admonitions are taken. In more macho societies, challenges to one's manhood — such as being the recipient of ridicule for avoiding risky behavior — must not go unanswered. And the results can literally be deadly. For evidence of this, you don’t have to go to Mexico or Argentina. Mississippi or Alabama will do. In a newly published study, three University of ... Read More

