Where Do These Grants Come From?

Filed under:Church of Liberalism,Priorities,WTF? — posted by Anwyn on October 2, 2011 @ 1:51 pm

And do the grant-granters know how their money is being spent? “Women Who Make More Decisions Have Less Sex:”

“[T]he findings showed more dominant and assertive women had approximately 100 times less sex.”

These results are clearly specific to the area in which the women were surveyed. A Florida State University study also found that in countries with higher gender equality, there is more sex, so it’s no surprise that in poorer African countries, women are withholding it.

The idea that dominant women are having less sex is likely evidence, as reported by the Daily Mail, that women around the world are taking control of their sexual preferences.

What???

There are two parts of the study reported here:
1) The numbers, which say women who make more household decisions have less sex, and
2) The conclusions, which are:
a) These women withhold sex.
b) These women are “taking control of their sexual preferences.”

I stipulate up front that I haven’t come up with any possible conclusions to this study that don’t make women look bad. All the possible conclusions to numbers like this are unpalatable. But one obvious conclusion also makes men look a bit bad as well as fitting traditional intuition: Men don’t want women who make decisions very much. But that conclusion, while making men look bad, tends to work against the goals of feminism. Feminists would not want to let on that men maybe have less desire for a woman who, as the saying used to be, wears the pants, because maybe that would make women think twice about wearing the pants too often. Maybe that’s why it’s discarded in favor of the two that leave women in control–that they’re withholding sex and that they prefer 100 times less sex than their less decision-making counterparts. They prefer it that way. I find it hard to believe that’s possible even by biological norms.

But what gets me the most is how the researchers apparently not only accept this conclusion as biologically possible but also endorse it as a good rather than realizing it makes the women they’re talking about look like punishing, anti-sex shrews. This is the preferred conclusion over “men don’t prefer women who make more decisions.”

Another killer is the closing:

“Understanding how women’s position in the household influences their sexual activity may be an essential piece in protecting the sexual rights of women and helping them to achieve a sexual life that is both safe and pleasurable,” co-author Carie Muntifering told Health24.com.

We’ve gone from basic, obvious rights–i.e. the right to say “no” to any sexual advance–to “reproductive rights” to “sexual rights” and now apparently it is the job of some section of “academia” to “help women achieve” a good sex life. Please, women of academia, no thank you. Please, grant distributors, stop funding these kinds of idiotic, meddlesome studies.

Got the link from Instapundit.

Update: And thanks to Professor Instapundit for the link!

11 comments »

  1. “1) The numbers, which say women who make more household decisions have less sex, and
    2) The conclusions, which are:
    a) These women withhold sex.
    b) These women are “taking control of their sexual preferences.”

    Bullshit. We’re just exhausted from taking on everyone else’s responsibilities.

    Comment by lemonaccount@sbcglobal.net — October 2, 2011 @ 6:18 pm

  2. Know what can really empower a person to “make a lot of decisions”? Being alone. Mateless, aspousal, single, bereft, all by one’s self. And that state, I’m willing to bet, also results in just about 100 times less sex.

    To avoid the really obvious conclusion — that many people answering the survey forms were not involved in a “relationship” — why, we’d have to see an analysis of that line of inquiry in the test results. And we don’t have that, which leads me to a scientific judgment of “bullshit.”

    Comment by comatus — October 2, 2011 @ 6:26 pm

  3. Yeah, when I said I hadn’t come up with any conclusions that didn’t make the women look bad, I was assuming this study was run on attached women. Obviously if it was run on single women as well, “bullshit” becomes not only the default answer but pretty much the only one.

    Comment by Anwyn — October 2, 2011 @ 6:30 pm

  4. Done. Refer back to article.

    Comment by teapartydoc — October 2, 2011 @ 6:32 pm

  5. Every ship has a captain, only one, or there will be chaos. Every home must have a leader for the same reason.

    The bible tells men to love their wives unconditionally, because that will meet their emotional needs and men don’t do it naturally. Also men are to sacrifice themselves for their wives, either all at once (war, famine, ship wreck) or little by little (daily work, etc.)
    Women are told to respect their husbands the same way, for the same reasons. The desired result is the Greek concept Agape, sacrificial love, from each to the other. This study confirms the wisdom of the bible. The women refuse to submit and receive less love in return, probably in a death spiral of pride. I think the real lesson should be: Choose wisely, commit fully, live with understanding, compassion and forgiveness.

    Comment by Rignerd — October 2, 2011 @ 7:08 pm

  6. Out of curiosity, wouldn’t it be prudent for women who are decision makers (and thus, most probably, logical thinkers) *in* *Africa* — with it’s sky-high AIDS rates — to choose not to indulge in sex unless it’s with someone who is provably not infected? This might tend to decrease the number of times they have sex, also, wouldn’t you think?

    Comment by Lin W — October 2, 2011 @ 7:09 pm

  7. Statistics regarding sex among a survey group in six African countries has no standing with regard to sex in the civilized world. The PI may as well have studied sex in six inner-city ghettos (which would have been a great deal more illuminating!).

    “Understanding how women’s position in the household influences their sexual activity may be an essential piece in protecting the…..” co-author Carie Muntifering was heard to mutter.

    This is sexist twaddle, and a clear cut case of “Garbage In, Garbage Out”.

    Charlie

    Comment by Charlie — October 2, 2011 @ 7:24 pm

  8. And they appear to completely miss my wife’s dynamic – she’s an executive vice president at a large company and too damn busy with real decisions at work to give much of a damn about who makes decisions around the house. (and since I have my own career, and the kids are busy with school, soccer and friends, I suspect the dog is making most decisions around the house.)

    Comment by Married to One — October 2, 2011 @ 8:57 pm

  9. @Married to One:

    But how much sex is your dog having? Seriously, I have been with three woman that would fall into the studies purview and they all loved sex and wanted it all the time. I’m calling BS.

    Comment by bobbymike — October 2, 2011 @ 11:06 pm

  10. Um, the original story also noted, “These results are clearly specific to the area in which the women were surveyed. A Florida State University study also found that in countries with higher gender equality, there is more sex, so it’s no surprise that in poorer African countries, women are withholding it.”

    So why is anyone drawing any conclusions about their own relationships or any in the United States from a study – good or bad – clearly centered on a group of people in Africa?

    Comment by Leigh — October 3, 2011 @ 5:32 am

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