31 March 2008 Monday

/. Study Shows Males Commonly Mistake Sexual Intent

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Study Shows Males Commonly Mistake Sexual Intent
seattle-pk writes “Males are apparently clueless when it comes to interpreting sexual intent from females, according to a recent study (PDF) from Indiana University’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. Men were found commonly to perceive more sexual intent in women’s behavior than women were intending to convey. (A campus survey showed that 68% of college females had an experience where a male mistook signs of friendliness for affection.) However, the study also shows that men were quite likely to misperceive sexual interest as friendliness. ‘Rather than seeing the world through sex-colored glasses, men seemed just to have blurry vision of sorts, overall,’ according to the article. If you’re a male who ever mistook the meaning of a barista’s smile, looks like you’re not alone.”

[link]

The comments are rather interesting, although not terribly informative or really relevant… I guess the relevance is relative, though.

The news is not new. Guys misinterpret; girls are vague/confusing.
But.. sometimes a girl is not vague, and the guy does not misinterpret. He oversteps and he knows it, and she tells him and he hears her. And he apologizes and says it won’t happen again. Where’s the misperception/misunderstanding, then, when he does it again? A pattern of misunderstanding? I don’t think that’s a matter of mistaking intent. It’s making excuses, choosing to exercise selective and creative memory and taking liberty with one’s own picture and preference of things, with disregard and disrespect for the other individual. It’s not okay.