patrickmclaren comments on Evolution, Sex, and Gender, Not to Mention Research - Less Wrong

20 Post author: NancyLebovitz 14 January 2013 02:19PM

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Comment author: patrickmclaren 14 January 2013 10:29:57PM *  2 points [-]

On a lighter side, this study reinforces (by a small quantity, due to all the caveat outlined in the comments) my idea that women are as promiscuous as men, but they are culturally forced to lie about that: not really big news.

Keep in mind that this study only reflects upon individuals born between 1978-1985. Based on the recent increase in entertainment promoting promiscuous behavior (ie. the American Pie series, EuroTrip, <insert recent teenage sex adventure movie here>), I expect that current attitudes (of 18-25 y/o's) would differ, even from those in 2003.

Comment author: MrMind 15 January 2013 10:16:31AM *  0 points [-]

Well, the study has its limits, and this could be another one of them, so as I said it's far from conclusive. However, in this particular case, I wonder if the kind of entertainment that you indicate really nudges young adults sexuality or limits to expose a widely known but denied truth (in Italy we say "Punchinello's secret", also when someone declares that he has discovered something that everybody else knew very well in advance, it's said that he has "discovered hot water").
I'm thinking for example of pornographic movies, that exist since the beginning of cinematography, and it's not that the women were particularly forced to star in them... Of course not even this is strong evidence, though it's still something.
In my opinion, the biggest piece of evidence in favor of women's promiscuity are sperm wars.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 22 January 2013 05:51:00PM 0 points [-]

Also, I think there are random factors affecting which art gets made. What gets popular is a subset of what happens to get made, not a clear indicator of the minds in the audience.