For the next two weeks I'm going to be visiting relatives in Germany (with a brief stop in England). But thanks to the miracle of future-dating posts, I should be able to produce a trickle of posts while I'm gone. And, of course, I hope to be able to blog from Germany about all the weirdness I find there (I'm sure there'll be plenty of it).
For my first future-dated post, I present you with "Sex and the Single Armrest" -- a 1982 study of "limited space and territorial behavior" during air travel (Psychological Reports, 51: 743-749). The question it posed was this: in a mixed-sex seating arrangement, who uses the common armrest more, men or women?
As you read this, I'm probably on a transatlantic flight, battling with someone for the armrest, so I thought it was an appropriate topic.
To find the answer, the researchers conducted "direct observation on 20 flights (occurring on a variety of weekdays, nights, and weekends) with a total of 852 people in mixed-sex seating arrangements."
The conclusion:
The over-all results of the observational study indicate that, even when controlling for size, males use the common airplane armrest three times more frequently than females do in mixed-sex seating arrangements. Conclusions are supported by information from interviews in which twice as many males said they used the armrest. The younger males and females indicated much stronger feelings toward armrest use than the older people interviewed, especially the younger-than-40 males. A stewardess indicated that she felt these findings were accurate. During many flights, she has observed that men become much more aggressive about seating than women do; she has even seen some near fist fights by men.
From the work of Dr. Harrison Pope, a Harvard psychiatrist, comes this illustration of the evolution of G.I. Joe dolls. On the left is the original G.I. Joe from 1964, with relatively normal body proportions. Over the years, the dolls grew progressively more muscular until finally, on the far right, we arrive at a recent version of the doll, "G.I. Joe Extreme." Pope is trying to establish a connection between the toys and an increase in "body-image disturbances" among men.
e-MANcipate describes itself as "a project to accelerate the acceptance of male pantyhose as a regular clothing item."
Why should guys wear pantyhose? "To improve athletic performance, energize and revitalize tired, aching leg muscles, and to stimulate circulation if they sit all day."
But what if you're shy and embarrassed about wearing pantyhose? "you can always show that you are wearing support pantyhose, and just give some reasons - your legs were tired or problematic in other ways. This is especially accepted if you need to stand or sit all day long, and for sports using your legs."
Traditional Albanian society was not exactly pro-women's rights. Women were expected to marry and produce children, and that's about it. They were forbidden to partake in any "male" activities, such as smoking or wearing a watch.
But there was another option. A woman could choose to become a "sworn virgin," in which case she would become a man in the eyes of Albanian society, allowed to do all the things that men do (including being able to inherit property). The big drawback was no sex or marriage for the rest of their life. The punishment for breaking the vow was death.
SFGate has an interview with one of the last "sworn virgins" in Albania. There's fewer than a hundred remaining. A 2007 Washington Post article also has a video interview with a sworn virgin.
Those darn males! We've already seen that they need to be spritzed regularly with Poo-Pourri, and now we find out that they make three times as much mucus as women!
I'm just now recovered from my viewing of THE WILD WOMEN OF WONGO. But I still cannot say what my favorite moment is from the film. Perhaps the wild dance ordered by the High Priestess. Perhaps the endless scene where our heroine, the cute-as-a-button redhead Jean Hawkshaw, to the right here, wrestles underwater with a rubber alligator.
You'll have to decide for yourself. First, take a look at the unfortunately bleached-out trailer. Then view the whole film--in glorious "Pathecolor"--on YouTube, in several parts, with the first one featured after the trailer.
Every election year, politicians seek to invoke a mythical Golden Age, when life was simpler and more wholesome. Take the Edwardian Era in America, for instance, when the moral fiber of the country was still unpolluted--
--and when a drag queen like Julian Eltinge was a top attraction in high society and popular culture alike.
Loyal and perceptive reader Rain Oubliette, commenting on the Space Age Fridge Ladies, mentions that they resemble an all-female Devo cover band, possibly named "Shevo." Well, no such weird group exists, to the best of my knowledge. But we do have the incomparable Lez Zepplin.
Here's a great example of Madison Avenue trying to a) make a problem that doesn't exist or is minimal into an overwhelming burden that only their product can alleviate and b) bring the vaunted "miraculous" power of scientists and scientific imagery into the marketing mix.
Did women in 1939--or ever--really ask their friends for a hygienic crotch alert?
e-MANcipate describes itself as "a project to accelerate the acceptance of male pantyhose as a regular clothing item."
Category: Science, Psychology, Travel, Gender