Tag: Artwork

I found this recent study on online social dynamics fascinating. Researchers looked at people playing an online videogame (Halo 3) and measured success against their behavior across the genders. It turned out the men were generally complimentary to other male players. Successful men were also complimentary to female players. However, unsuccessful men tended to be nasty and rude to female players. So they were losers in all sense of the word.

This researchers conclusion was that a change in existing social dynamics – in this case an influx of new female players into a previously male dominated area – was a bigger threat to those near the bottom than those near the top. The lower status players had more to lose and hence reacted in an angrier fashion to those they perceive as responsible. This is a conclusion that fits with a lot of my personal observations of life. In a work environment it’s always the confident and expert individuals who are most open to being challenged and debating alternatives. People who are less sure of themselves see each challenge as a direct threat and react accordingly. One could probably do a similar analysis about economics, social classes and the current politics of America.

In the wider world it’s hard to know what the answer to this problem is. Anger from losing out when it comes to economics or social influence can be understandable. But when it comes to online interaction, whether it’s gaming, discussion forums or social media, there’s no excuse for being a douche. If you can’t not be angry then walk away. And if you see someone behaving obnoxiously then call them on it.

This is by the artist Travis Estrella from his tumblr 1000 Pencils.

According to a recent study, 50% of British women can’t identify their reproductive parts on a diagram. That seems a bizarrely high number. I’ve no idea how accurate this study is, but it would explain a pet peeve of mine: Erotic fiction that gets all the body parts wrong when it starts describing the details of an encounter. There’s nothing like a vagina being licked or a cervix penetrated to ruin a steamy story. I remember one particularly strange example that seemed to think the female protagonist had a prostate. That would have come as a bit of a shock to her gynecologist.  I always assumed it was male authors not having a clue, but maybe it’s a more widespread problem than that.
Hopefully the gentleman above knows exactly where he’s sticking his tongue. The image is signed AD, but I don’t have a better attribution than that. Amusingly, when I do a Google reverse image search it suggests that the image is about “Delayed onset muscle soreness”. Maybe she’s had him there for a while?