Stop the Presses!!

Now, wait a minute..."stop the presses!" is an old cliche that refers to the old-time newspaper industry, when the cigar-chomping city editor would shout this at his hapless press operator in response to some fabulous, Pulitzer-quality story that had just crossed his desk.

But it makes no sense in the age of the Internet, does it?

What do you say nowadays? "Impede the flow of electrons!!" ??

Well, I digress...but for a reason.

We stop the presses this morning for this amazing story from CNN Online: Men See Bikini-Clad Women As Objects, Psychologists Say.

I'm shocked! Shocked, I say! Who would have thought such a thing?

And who would have paid for a study to prove it?

Susan Fiske, a professor of psychology at Princeton University, told the CNN reporter that "This is just the first study which was focused on the idea that men of a certain age view sex as a highly desirable goal, and if you present them with a provocative woman, then that will tend to prime goal-related responses."

Yes, I've been known to experience prime goal-related responses. Somewhat less frequently as I grow older, but I know whereof the good professor speaks.

Professor Fiske's study involved showing photographs of fully-clothed and bikini-clad women to men for a fraction of a second, then measuring the activity shown in different parts of their brains. The result was that men tended to show more activity in the brain areas associated with handling tools and intending to perform actions, and to remember the bikini-clad women's bodies better than those of fully-clothed women. The CNN report goes on to address a supplementary study on both male and female undergraduates, which found that men tend to associate bikini-clad women with first-person action verbs such as "I push," "I handle," and "I grab," instead of third-person forms such as "she pushes," "she handles," and "she grabs." On the other hand, they associated fully-clothed women with the third-person forms, indicating these women were perceived as in control of their own actions. Women who took the test did not show this effect, according to Professor Fiske.

I think I wasted my time studying the reconstruction of dead languages in college.

Dr. Charles Raison, a psychiatrist and director of the Mind/Body Institute at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, wasn't involved in Professor Fiske's study, but had his own take on what it meant, noting that both women and men have something to learn from such research: women should be aware of how they are perceived when wearing provocative clothing, and men shouldn't let feelings of impersonal sexual longing interfere with their more personal relationships with other women, including female friends. "Many men make foolish choices because of sexual attraction," Dr Raison said.

Bilbo said, "Duh..."

I think the subject requires additional study. Therefore, I ask all of my female readers to e-mail me photographs of yourselves in bikinis so that I can evaluate the work of Professor Fiske. For purely scientific reasons, of course.

I'll let you know how it comes out.

Have a good day. Cartoon Saturday's coming.

Bilbo