Category:
Books
Books
Cult Magazines
Posted By: Paul - Tue Jul 28, 2009 -
Comments (2)
Category: Eccentrics, Collectors, Magazines, Subcultures, Books
Alabama Curiosities
Posted By: Paul - Sat Jun 20, 2009 -
Comments (1)
Category: Regionalism, Weird Studies and Guides, Books
Weird Stuff from The History Channel
Seems as if there should be some prime material of interest for WU-vies in these five titles.Or in the DVDs of the History Channel show they derive from.
Or even in the official boardgame!
Posted By: Paul - Tue Jun 16, 2009 -
Comments (3)
Category: Games, Video, Books
Voodoo in Benin
Nearly twenty-five years ago, I wrote a novel titled CIPHERS, which featured scenes of voodoo in Benin. Long before YouTube was even a concept, I had to do all my research in books. I would have killed to see this video.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Jun 08, 2009 -
Comments (0)
Category: Music, Religion, Books, Dance, Africa
Two Weird Books
But aren't phone booths going extinct everywhere? Who will save the endangered tart card?!?
Posted By: Paul - Sat May 02, 2009 -
Comments (5)
Category: Magazines, Sexuality, Advertising, Books
Jonathan Bayliss, RIP
Posted By: Paul - Sat Apr 25, 2009 -
Comments (3)
Category: Eccentrics, Literature, Books, Writers, Obituaries
How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers
As children, my sibs and I were utterly fascinated by this weird little book. We studied the drawing for hours. Now you can too, thanks to the magic of the internet!
Posted By: Paul - Fri Apr 17, 2009 -
Comments (1)
Category: Animals, Nature, Books, 1900s
Alice Redux
Posted By: Paul - Tue Apr 14, 2009 -
Comments (8)
Category: Animals, Death, Literature, Books, Fantasy, Parody, Weapons
The Westermarck Effect
The Westermarck Effect is a psychological phenomena named after Finnish anthropologist Edvard Westermarck. The effect is that (according toWikipedia): "when two people live in close domestic proximity during the first few years in the life of either one, both are desensitized to later close sexual attraction." Which is why most people don't get the hots for their sibling.
However, if siblings don't grow up together and only meet for the first time later in life, they may be intensely sexually attracted to each other. This is known as genetic sexual attraction, or GSA. Again, from Wikipedia:
Several factors may contribute to GSA. People commonly rank faces similar to their own as more attractive, trustworthy, etc. than average... Shared interests and personality traits are commonly considered desirable in a mate... In cases of parent-child attraction, the parent may recognize traits of their sometime mate in the child. Such reunions typically produce complex emotions in all involved.
Finally, there is the phenomena known as the Westermarck Trap, which occurs when two people who have grown up together (and thus are sexually desensitized to each other) are expected to marry each other, because of an arranged marriage. According to one theory, this is what the novel Frankenstein depicts:
Students of the Westermarck effect may be interested to know that this trap is depicted in the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, in which Victor Frankenstein is expected to marry a cousin reared with him. Instead, he creates a monster that persecutes him and murders his prospective bride before the marriage can be consummated. It is suggested that the plot owes something to Mary Shelley's own experience of the Westermarck effect, following a childhood in which she was reared with a stepbrother. Her own personal solution was not to create a monster but to elope with a married man (Percy Bysshe Shelley) at the age of 16.
Posted By: Alex - Mon Mar 30, 2009 -
Comments (5)
Category: Literature, Books, Sexuality, Psychology
Castles In the Air
Read the author's take on the whole affair here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Feb 25, 2009 -
Comments (6)
Category: Art, Books, Goofs and Screw-ups
| Who We Are |
|---|
| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |