It's The Bitches Not The Bitches In The Media
In The New York Times, John Tierney writes of research that suggests that nasty female competition -- not the media -- drives women's dissatisfaction with their bodies:
To see how female students react to a rival, researchers brought pairs of them into a laboratory at McMaster University for what was ostensibly a discussion about female friendships. But the real experiment began when another young woman entered the room asking where to find one of the researchers.This woman had been chosen by the researchers, Tracy Vaillancourt and Aanchal Sharma, because she "embodied qualities considered attractive from an evolutionary perspective," meaning a "low waist-to-hip ratio, clear skin, large breasts." Sometimes, she wore a T-shirt and jeans, other times a tightfitting, low-cut blouse and short skirt.
In jeans, she attracted little notice and no negative comments from the students, whose reactions were being secretly recorded during the encounter and after the woman left the room. But when she wore the other outfit, virtually all the students reacted with hostility.
They stared at her, looked her up and down, rolled their eyes and sometimes showed outright anger. One asked her in disgust, "What the [expletive] is that?"
Most of the aggression, though, happened after she left the room. Then the students laughed about her and impugned her motives. One student suggested that she dressed that way in order to have sex with a professor. Another said that her breasts "were about to pop out."
The results of the experiment jibe with evidence that this "mean girl" form of indirect aggression is used more by adolescents and young women than by older women, who have less incentive to handicap rivals once they marry. Other studies have shown that the more attractive an adolescent girl or woman is, the more likely she is to become a target for indirect aggression from her female peers.
"Women are indeed very capable of aggressing against others, especially women they perceive as rivals," said Dr. Vaillancourt, now a psychologist at the University of Ottawa. "The research also shows that suppression of female sexuality is by women, not necessarily by men."
Stigmatizing female promiscuity -- a.k.a. slut-shaming -- has often been blamed on men, who have a Darwinian incentive to discourage their spouses from straying. But they also have a Darwinian incentive to encourage other women to be promiscuous. Dr. Vaillancourt said the experiment and other research suggest the stigma is enforced mainly by women.
And about those cries of blame the media!?
"To a large degree the media reflects trends that are going on in society, not creates them," said Dr. Ferguson, a psychologist at Stetson University. He found that women's dissatisfaction with their bodies did not correlate with what they watched on television at home. Nor were they influenced by TV programs shown in laboratory experiments: Watching the svelte actresses on "Scrubs" induced no more feelings of inferiority than watching the not-so-svelte star of "Roseanne."But he found that women were more likely to feel worse when they compared themselves with peers in their own social circles, or even if they were in a room with a thin stranger.
I think you're ignoring social status cues in the case of clothing. Low-cut shirts and miniskirts are low-status, overly sexual clothes. Women who try too hard to be sexy are perceived as being low-status and desperate. This could incite pecking order stuff, like having a homeless man walk in. If you present yourself as "whore" you are perceived as someone to kick around. It shouldn't be that way, but it is.
NicoleK at November 19, 2013 4:29 AM
Amy Alkon
https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2013/11/its-the-bitches.html#comment-4063082">comment from NicoleKWomen denigrate other women for their sexual display.
Amy Alkon at November 19, 2013 5:21 AM
"Bitchy stares from other women are the only mirror I need."
I forget who said that but Cridmeister posted that link a year or so ago. It's been a tagline on my emails ever since.
Whatever happened to Crid, anyway? Did he take his ball and go home, the big baby?
Women denigrate other women for their sexual display.
Out of jealousy, insecurity, what? Certainly not because the ones doing the denigrating want to look like the ones they're denigrating? Or is it because they do?
Flynne at November 19, 2013 7:51 AM
Yes, Amy, because too much sexual display is a sign of low status, and people see it as a free-for-all. Whether she's "asking to be raped" or worthy of being picked on. Overt sexuality in a woman is a sign of desperation, which implies bottom of the totem pole. Sadly, we are a species where status is very important, and some people can't wait to have a lowly slave-type loser person to pick on.
Status, Flynne. They stomp on them because they CAN. People are mean.
NicoleK at November 19, 2013 8:54 AM
I like big butts and I cannot lie
You other brothers can't deny
That when a girl walks in with an itty-bitty waist
And a round thing in your face you get SPRUNG
It's very easy for the woman in a nice dress to sneer at the woman strolling by in daisy dukes and call her white trash. But she knows very well that only some women have the bod & the attitude to pull that off with confidence, and if she's not one of them, then she knows that the other woman has something, something primal and undeniable, that she doesn't have. If you got it, flaunt it. If you don't...
Martin at November 19, 2013 9:54 AM
Amy Alkon
https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2013/11/its-the-bitches.html#comment-4063512">comment from NicoleKWomen are especially keyed to women who are competing with them sexually.
Amy Alkon at November 19, 2013 9:58 AM
I'm with NicoleK.
Ppen at November 19, 2013 12:17 PM
Im an attractive woman. I'm not bragging or fishing. Its a fact. I used to model . Even at my geriatric age ( mid 40s) women STILL exhibit many of the behaviors listed above. Its incredible, really. I used to hide and dress down to avoid the downright nasty comments from other women. This article was spot on.
j at November 19, 2013 12:30 PM
But, but, but .... PAY TREE ARE KEY!!
Jay R at November 19, 2013 2:32 PM
Everything in the article seems pretty common sense to me....
Flynne, Crid doesn't like competition. Hence the aggression with anyone who disagrees.....
So yes, the big baby went whinin to momma.
wtf at November 19, 2013 5:16 PM
And you probably appreciate a guy looking at you; whether he says a word or not.
Jim P. at November 19, 2013 10:05 PM
Eh. They snarked at a woman dressed inappropriately for the situation. I don't think it has so much to do with sexual competition as it does with enforcing norms. If the woman was ugly and dressed inappropriately, they'd snark at her.
Try this experiment altered---put the women in a situation where skimpy dress is the norm (dance class, swimming pool, etc) and have the model dressed in a way that's outlandishly covered-up compared to the rest. She will be snarked.
Jenny Had A Chance at November 20, 2013 2:44 AM
Amy Alkon
https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2013/11/its-the-bitches.html#comment-4065289">comment from Jenny Had A ChanceAgain, think about WHERE the norms come from.
Amy Alkon at November 20, 2013 7:10 AM
I love studies like these and have little doubts about the realities of intrasexual competition.
I have been saying for years that women aren't competing with actresses "in the media"; we're competing with the women around us in real life. That's why I get so frustrated when mothers say they want advertising to show "real people" so their daughters don't grow up with unrealistic expectations for themselves. I want to ask where they live that their daughters aren't exposed to real people. Do they go the grocery store?
We compare ourselves to our real-life "competitors." Even if we Harrison Bergeroned the "media," there /are/ stunningly attractive people around--probably not looking like airbrushed perfection but still super, super hot--and you can't protect your daughters from meeting them.
As for the hot assistant experiment, I agree with NicoleK and Jenny that it wasn't well constructed enough to prove their conclusion. The outfit in question is extremely out of place for the situation, and it makes her look dumb and clueless. (Whereas she would not look clueless in a club.) The girl's face looks much prettier with her hair down, so that's a variable they didn't control for. I also don't know how they could have controlled for her body language. We walk and speak differently when we're wearing sexy clothes.
I would like to see permutations in different settings, with women of varying attractiveness in the same outfits. Similar studies have found that women interviewers had poor reactions to attractive female candidates, but presumably those candidates were wearing appropriate attire.
There are reasons outside of sexual competition that might cause me to get upset over a woman in a very slutty outfit in my work environment--even a woman who can't compete with me in the looks department. It makes me worry about men's perception of women in the workplace. It makes me worried they will be too distracted or will make dumb decisions because they are focused on the possibility of sleeping with her. It also might make me worry that she will be shown work-related favoritism by men hoping to sleep with her, which I guess is kind of associated with primal fear of losing resources, but not in the same way.
It's like when you've entered a costume contest wearing a brilliant and clever costume, and you lose to the chick without a costume who flashes her breasts. You're not exactly mad or surprised that guys react more to naked breasts, but that wasn't the point of the contest, so you feel cheated.
Insufficient Poison at November 20, 2013 8:04 AM
Hey, where IS Crid?
Insufficient Poison at November 20, 2013 8:09 AM
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