When Norrie May-Welby of Paisley in Scotland was growing up he didn't feel quite at home as a man, so when he moved to Australia 20 years ago he decided to undergo a sex-change and live as a woman. Now he's decided he doesn't much like being a woman either and has become the world's first officially recognised "neuter". Now neither a Mr, Mrs or Ms, May-Welby stopped taking the hormone supplements that were keeping him female and instead has convinced the Australian government to issue him a new set of documents that list his sex as "not specified" (Sify News).
This article analyses portrayals of Scottish female herring workers on the covers of romance novels and investigates how far these representations conform to, or subvert, the genre of romantic fiction. Covers are analysed to establish whether they accurately portray Scottish female herring workers at their labour. If romanticisation of the women's working role is evident, the ways in which this manifests itself and the possible reasons for this romanticisation are examined. Composition of images and the mise-en-scene of covers are analysed, as well as aspects concerning the narratives of the novels, and elements of herring processing work that are noticeably absent in the depictions are also considered. These elements excluded from the covers are examined through theory relating to the abject in an attempt to ascertain whether the covers potentially provide models of female empowerment for the reader.
And here are some of the romance novel covers in question.
I'll spare you the trouble of reading the article by summarizing its findings. Gutting herrings is smelly, dirty work. This is not accurately portrayed on romance covers. (Thanks to Dave Monroe!)
This study published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior offers some interesting insights into male psychology:
The Puzzle:
Pornography produced for men does seem to appeal to their evolved interests in sexual variety and multiple matings by depicting numerous women who are willing to engage in casual sex without investment. However, perhaps the most direct way in which pornography could cater to these aspects of male sexual psychology would be to depict situations in which a man gains sexual access to multiple women. By embodying male "harem fantasies," such material should tend to appeal to male interests in sequestering, and monopolizing sexual access to, numerous women. However, a cursory examination of commercially produced pornographic videos and photographs reveals that depictions of situations in which a man gains exclusive sexual access to multiple women are, in fact, relatively rare. Moreover, depictions of sexual activity involving a woman and several men appear to be much more common. In extreme forms, this type of orgiastic sexual activity can involve one woman and a very large number of men.
Bonus (It's not just humans):
The sexual performance of domesticated farm animals can be enhanced by allowing them to view other conspecific males engaged in copulatory behavior. After observing another male copulate with a female, bulls ejaculate more frequently and male goats show reduced latencies to mount and ejaculate. Similar improvements in sexual performance are seen in stallions that display a lack of sexual interest. Crucially, the stimulatory effects associated with viewing a female copulating with another male are greater than are those of watching a restrained cow by herself. Moreover, similar effects are seen in boars that have merely viewed another male mounting and ejaculating over a dummy sow.
The scientific explanation: Sperm Competition!
Sperm competition is the competition between the sperm of different males to fertilize a female's gamete(s). In a species with internal fertilization, it can occur whenever a female engages in "double mating" such that live sperm from two (or more) males are present within her reproductive tract...
If sperm competition has been an important selection pressure during human evolution, then sexual arousal may be an adaptive response to its occurrence since frequent copulation can be an effective method of paternity assurance. Consequently, although men should generally find mate sharing to be aversive, they may nevertheless find cues of increased sperm competition risk to be sexually arousing.
Following up on Alex's "Couvade" post: here's a musical exegesis of the eternal tradeoff between daily facial shaving for men, and monthly menstruation for women.
What I find odd is that the men in the ad don't seem to need a brassiere. So are these being marketed to cross-dressers? But wouldn't cross-dressers want genuine female clothing? (via Gizmodo)
In case you want to buy one, they're available from Wish Room.
The other day, watching that commercial of Lucky Strike cigarettes square-dancing, I speculated on how one could distinguish female from male cigarettes. Twenty years after that commercial, Madison Avenue had the answer! Female cigarettes are "pretty" and have decorative floral emblems on the filters!
Wasn't it wonderful that "women's lib" allowed tobacco companies to sell more cigarettes to a previously under-served population?
Category: Aliens, Movies, Sexuality, Gender, Women, 1950's, Fictional Monsters