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posted by martyb on Friday August 31 2018, @06:03AM   Printer-friendly
from the No-Boyz-Just-Girlz? dept.

SELFIES. Whether you love them or you hate them, they're constantly flooding our social media feeds.

For women it's often about being seen as sexy or looking glamorous. But why?

Well, researchers have figured it out. And the reason is not what you might think.

University of New South Wales researcher Khandis Blake says the next time you see a woman adjusting her bikini provocatively with her phone at the ready, don't think of her as vacuous or a victim.

"Think of her as a strategic player in a complex social and evolutionary game," says Dr Blake said [sic].

The study revealed women tend to sexualise themselves in environments with greater economic inequality, rather than where they might be oppressed because of their gender.

Analysing tens of thousands of social media posts across 113 countries, they tracked photos where people had taken selfies and then noted that they were tagged sexy, hot or similar.

[...] "That income inequality is a big predictor of sexy selfies suggests that sexy selfies are a marker of social climbing among women that tracks economic incentives in the local environment," Dr Blake says.

"Rightly or wrongly, in today's environment, looking sexy can generate large returns, economically, socially, and personally."

Source: https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/the-science-behind-hot-selfies-revealed-in-new-study/news-story/1505f4fcdc3007f4a71bd6b2a79b9bad


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 31 2018, @10:26AM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 31 2018, @10:26AM (#728694)

    Each gender displays what they believe to be their desirable assets to attract a mate. It doesn't mean they attract a desirable mate, or attract only desirable mates, or are able to keep one whom they feel are desirable. Having the goods isn't enough to keep someone around; you've got to have personality to accomplish that.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by fyngyrz on Friday August 31 2018, @03:06PM (5 children)

    by fyngyrz (6567) on Friday August 31 2018, @03:06PM (#728770) Journal

    Having the goods isn't enough to keep someone around; you've got to have personality to accomplish that.

    Are you suggesting Melania stays around because of Donald's personality?

    Oh, you are funny. :)

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 31 2018, @03:57PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 31 2018, @03:57PM (#728792)

      Are you suggesting Melania stays around because of Donald's personality?

      Da

    • (Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 31 2018, @07:40PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 31 2018, @07:40PM (#728921)

      She wasn't exactly poor. She had her modeling career, and she could fall back on languages.

      Trump is charismatic. Don't bother denying it. FYI, Scott Adams wrote about it recently, after visiting the Whitehouse.

      • (Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Friday August 31 2018, @08:29PM (2 children)

        by fyngyrz (6567) on Friday August 31 2018, @08:29PM (#728952) Journal

        Trump is charismatic

        lol no. Not unless your IQ is somewhere south of your shoe size.

        • (Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Sunday September 02 2018, @05:11PM (1 child)

          by ElizabethGreene (6748) Subscriber Badge on Sunday September 02 2018, @05:11PM (#729580) Journal

          +Trump is charismatic
          ++lol no. Not unless your IQ is somewhere south of your shoe size.

          Are you basing this on personal experience, or because it's what you've been told to think?

          The Donald Trump you see on TV is not the Donald Trump you talk to one-on-one. I don't understand why he reverts to the wandering idiot persona in public, but in a small group he's a different person. I saw this DT on television once during his campaign on a very early morning television interview. The reporter asked a question about China and he apparently forgot this was for TV. His reply included source-quoted statistics and a nuanced assessment of China's Leadership's sword of Damocles dependence on maintaining extreme economic growth. He used that to support the argument that China needs US trade just as much as we need theirs, and that it was possible to use that dependence as a lever to bring the playing field into a much closer balance. He'd be much harder to dismiss if that DT replaced the blithering cacophony we see on CNN. He chooses not to do so, and I don't understand why. Perhaps being underestimated is a part of his strategy. I genuinely don't know.

          • (Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Sunday September 02 2018, @07:09PM

            by fyngyrz (6567) on Sunday September 02 2018, @07:09PM (#729611) Journal

            The Donald Trump I know is the one that is the narcissistic, misogynist, manifestly dishonest, xenophobic, sexist, rude, compulsive, racist, poorly spoken, selfish, historically and culturally ignorant, plutocratic, mean-spirited, scientifically illiterate, and frankly, not too bright individual.

            Trump is a person that appeals to the lowest common denominator, not because he is charismatic, because he most certainly is not, but because he shares the basest of values with that demographic, most notably racism, xenophobia and misogyny. There's a great deal of sucking up that goes on because of his wealth as well.

            Charismatic:

            Exercising a compelling charm that inspires devotion in others.

            No. Not on his very best day. He inspires with money, not charm, as well as repetitive dog whistles to low social behaviors, handing out validation to those who secretly, or not-so-secretly, engage in them. But charm? Hardly.