Interesting Links for 03-12-2015

[andrewducker]

• Genes for a longer, healthier life found (in nemotodes. We have the gene though)
  • genetics age health
• Turns out women trust gay men more about relationship advice. For obvious reasons
  • advice LGBT women friendship relationships
• New comprehensive model of depression opens the way to better understanding/treatment
  • psychology depression
• The Star Wars

Comments

[bart_calendar]

What I find really interesting in that study is the implication that a lot of women think that their female friends are trying to undermine them.

[andrewducker]

Do you think they're wrong?

[bart_calendar]

Well hard for me to really know since I've never been a woman with a female friend.

I do know that the point of most of Margaret Atwood's books are that women do more damage to each other than men do to women and that the patriarchy is really strongly supported by women undermining other women.

However, lots of women I know think that Atwood is full of shit and anti-feminist for making those arguments.

I guess if I had to choose one point of view or another I'd pick Atwood's, just because as far as I can tell she's the smartest human on the planet.

But it's hard to say for sure.

[andrewducker]

Hopefully we'll get some useful commentary :-)

[alitheapipkin]

I wouldn't say 'do **more** damage' but certainly women are just as prone as men to being indoctrinated by the patriarchy on a individual level; the fact that we are so complicit in it is one of the ways it is so very pervasive and difficult to overturn.

I tend not to call people who undermine me 'friends' but I've certainly had at least one woman I *thought* was my friend try to sabotage my relationship.

ETA: haven't read the article yet and do agree with commented below that this sort of stuff is blown out of proportion in the media.

[bart_calendar]

Interesting. And I'm sure it is blown out of proportion in the media. Anything involving women and relationships is blown out of proportion in the media.

[mair_aw]

I don't know if it's relevant exactly, but when I started my current job another local woman (of my mother's generation) said to me, something along the line's of, ooh, you'll be working with/for Arnold*, he's *very* attractive, and treats his women well, unlike his equally attractive brother, you could be in with a chance there.
Whereupon I pointed out that Arnold was engaged to another of my co-workers, and the other lady said to me, "oh, but he's not *married* yet! There's still time".

It seems to me that she was, er, advocating treating my co-worker badly in trying to steal her fiancé from her. And yes, I think she meant it.

* not his real name

[elfy]

I am a woman with female friends and I can not at all agree to this. And I don't know any women who thinks like this (if I have spoken to them about this topic or something similar or if I think I know them well enough).

[andrewducker]

You don't know any women who would treat other women badly in order to get an advantage with a man they'd like to be in a relationship with?

I find that...hard to believe :-)

[slemslempike]

I don't know (as in am friends with on at least some level, rather than acquaintances) any women who would treat other women like that either.

[gwendysmile]

I believe there are plenty of women who would treat other women badly in order to get an advantage with a man.

I believe there are far fewer women would treat a friend badly in order to get an advantage with a man.

[bart_calendar]

Yeah. That's why I find t his study interesting.

The implication is that women would rather have gay male friends than straight female friends because they are worried their straight female friends would screw them over over a guy.

Yet, it doesn't seem like that really happens between friends - unless it's so subtle it's not noticed.

[gwendysmile]

Is it horrible of me to think that these results are abnormal because all the respondents were college-age women in the American South

[gwendysmile]

Actually, thinking about it, I don't think there are even that many women who would treat other women badly in order to get an advantage with a man. I'm sure there are some. But I just don't think it's that widespread. I think a lot of women would happily treat other women badly to get an advantage at work, or in some social situations, but to get a man? What would that even entail? I mean, how would a woman even go about doing that? Give her rival the wrong address for a party all three of them were going to be at? Talk crap about her rival to the guy? I mean, do we really think this is widespread beyond middle school and Real Housewives?

I really think this whole thing is blown way out of proportion by the popularity of Bitchy Woman stereotypes in media.

[elfy]

This 1000%.

[elfy]

It feels a bit like they want to say "Hey, for guys it's "bros before hoes", but for women it's actually totally the other way round because women are all snakes and bitches.".