Real Posts Now

In an effort to start blogging more over the summer (during which I will be in Germany) I may as well start posting now.

First, please tell me why the BBC posts this garbage. Someone please enlighten me.

One gem:

"The study suggests sex hormones can alter the workings of the voice box, but the change may be too subtle to pick up in many situations."

(emphasis mine)

My question is, then, why this study? If the change is too subtle to pick up? Is this an ascertainment bias thing - you want to prove something, so you go out and find information/data that supports it? My suspicion is that it might be. Unless this professor did a study on men's voices, as well, which didn't get reported.

So a second question would then be, are there studies on men like this? I.e. "Men under more influence of progesterone 'sound sexier'". My suspicion is that this study would be portrayed vastly differently. First off, this study would never be done, or at least never reported on by the BBC: we're much more interested in what makes women sexy than men. Secondly, if this study were done, my guess is that the title would be more like "Women view men as sexier with higher progesterone levels". As in, here you have the women falling all over themselves to get at these men (this would be the implication). Whereas in the study the BBC reports on, the men rate very scientifically the attractiveness of the woman's voice, and then they are sexier, because the men say so. Don't worry, men are very objective.

Also, there was this classy quote from the professor who did this study:

"While it's possible, the other issue is that women do have mood changes across their menstrual cycle, and people might just be attracted to a happy-sounding woman, rather than a fertile one."

So difficult to avoid running into sexist tropes when talking about this kind of research! Makes me wonder if it really has much scientific value at all. Of course, it's the only kind of science the BBC reports - relatively useless, psuedo-sexist science. "Women in high heels actually happier, healthier, one scientist reports". "Men funnier than women, says unicycling professor" (although that one, I think, was a very interesting joke the BBC completely misreported.)

It seems mandatory, as well, that the BBC has to catch the professor of whatever research report guessing why their research is the way it is, and it's inevitably something offensive. I don't know whether it's the professor's fault, really, or the BBC's fault for reporting these studies this way. But please, this just sounds like a 1950's commercial. Unhappy? Your man will never love you! Aiyo.

And, before you jump on me for "something that couldn't possibly be sexist! After all, it's science!" please read this.