“Girls ‘born with fear of spiders’ “
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8237691.stm
I originally read this article in Spanish, where the headline reads “Temerosas por naturaleza” or “[Women] afraid of nature”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/ciencia_tecnologia/2009/09/090904_2314_aranas_mujeres_miedo_gm.shtml
The general response has been “w t f.” Does anyone else think this just sounds like bad science? For example, maybe the babies looked at the picture of the smiling person longer because they like to look at smiling people, and the spiders had nothing to do with this… it seems like there should have been some control portion of the study with only people and no spiders to see which face the babies looked at longer.
Also, how does the Spanish version of the article manage to extrapolate from spiders to all of nature? And why on earth is the headline different in Spanish than in English?
Overall, though, the whole thing is just too comical to be angry about it. I mean, really? This is what scientists are trying to figure out right now – whether women are genetically predisposed to being scared of crawly things?
Other comments:
Anjali: “if women are supposed to protect their offspring from dangerous creatures such as spiders, wouldn’t they be LESS afraid of them so that they could kill them?
because when you are afraid you lose control and freak out….”
Erin: “I also like how he assumes that men have no instinct to protect their children, that hunting requires “risk-taking” rather than patience or caution, and women “in their role as natural child protectors” would be fearful instead of strong. I love it when science is used to reinforce gender stereotypes!”
Caroline: “I guess I just missed out on that “child-protector” instinct… I kill spiders with abandon… annnnnd bare hands. Booya, science! And my brothers cower in the corner when it comes to spiders. lol. “
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