Women’s tears
“I heard the news today, oh boy…” We’ve all been affected by women’s tears. I have to specify women because the recent study published in Science Express only involved tears from women. The TV news reporter said that these tears
were a turnoff to men. Turnoff? Yep, make men less interested. That didn’t resonate with me, so I looked at a few write-ups about this study. There the headline was that “Women’s tears lowers testosterone in men”. That alters things a lot. Still, a quote from one of the authors was that tears “was one way of saying ‘no, I am not interested.’” Really?! If you, you man-thing, speak to a woman in a bar and she starts crying, you’ve probably got a lot more to worry about than her not being interested… Or, in fact, that might be a good sign to crank up your protective, white knight skills – presuming that you aren’t the reason she’s crying.
were a turnoff to men. Turnoff? Yep, make men less interested. That didn’t resonate with me, so I looked at a few write-ups about this study. There the headline was that “Women’s tears lowers testosterone in men”. That alters things a lot. Still, a quote from one of the authors was that tears “was one way of saying ‘no, I am not interested.’” Really?! If you, you man-thing, speak to a woman in a bar and she starts crying, you’ve probably got a lot more to worry about than her not being interested… Or, in fact, that might be a good sign to crank up your protective, white knight skills – presuming that you aren’t the reason she’s crying.
My immediate thought is that this effect is more related to aggression, that tears may soften a man, reduce his aggressive behavior and thoughts, by reducing testosterone. Testosterone is strongly associated with aggressive behavior and thoughts and so it makes sense to try to lower it for self-protection. And, maybe turn aggression towards something
that is hurting the person crying.
that is hurting the person crying.
So, these results are pretty exciting! The results suggest that tears contain a chemical that can reduce testosterone levels, and possibly reduce or redirect aggression. The authors’ mention using this chemical to reduce testosterone levels in conditions such as prostate cancer. A worthy goal, but appears to overlook the direct effect noted in the study – reduction of sexual, aggressive arousal. I hope that the industry will rapidly look to identify this chemical and evaluate whether it can be a lead to a new anti-aggression therapy.
As for the sound bites of TV news... you get what you pay for.
