What’s the difference between a lad mag and a rapist? Aside from one being a magazine and the other a person, albeit an reprehensible one, apparently not very much.
In a study soon to be published in the British Journal of Psychology, researchers at Middlesex University and the University of Surrey showed people quotes about women from British lad mags (FHM, Loaded, Nuts and Zoo) and from convicted rapists. Most survey respondents – men and women both – could not tell the difference between the quotes from the magazines and the quotes from the rapists. And most of the male respondents identified more with the quotes from the rapists than from the lad mags.
Here are some of the quotes the survey respondents were asked to react to. (You can find more at Jezebel.) Can you tell which of these are from rapists or lad mags?
Mascara running down the cheeks means they’ve just been crying, and it was probably your fault . . . but you can cheer up the miserable beauty with a bit of the old in and out.
You’ll find most girls will be reluctant about going to bed with somebody or crawling in the back seat of a car . . . But you can usually seduce them, and they’ll do it willingly.
Some girls walk around in short-shorts . . . showing their body off . . . It just starts a man thinking that if he gets something like that, what can he do with it?
I think girls are like plasticine, if you warm them up you can do anything you want with them.
In case you’re wondering, the correct answers are: Lad mag, Rapist, Rapist, Lad Mag.
Creepy, eh?
Lead researcher Miranda Horvath of Middlesex University explains why she feels this is so troubling:
Rapists try to justify their actions, suggesting that women lead men on, or want sex even when they say no, and there is clearly something wrong when people feel the sort of language used in a lads’ mag could have come from a convicted rapist.
I would say so.
And so, you might wonder, how did the regulars on the Men’s Rights subreddit react this this research? Take a look.
The comment with the most upvotes offered some nice juicy denial:
The comment with the second-highest number of upvotes completely missed the point:
And then there was this hot mess:
In case anyone is wondering, that quote from French is actually a quote from a character in one of her novels. And it’s pretty easy to distinguish it from things posted on Jezebel, because none of the writers on Jezebel ever say anything even remotely like that.
The Men’s Rights subreddit, responding to evidence of rape culture by going “la la la I can’t hear you” since March 2008.
Also 11… Well, not so much crushy on Matt Smith as I find him and Kingston together screen melting. He does have a great body, though.
11/JACK/RIVER THREESOME. COME ON. BEST WHO FANTASY. SAYS ME.
Tennent is the only one who’s ever done anything for me. There’s just something so charming about him. He’s always been that way, ever since he was very young – he’s inherently likeable. Hell, I remember watching him steal scenes right out from under Ken Stott, and that takes some doing.
@zhinxy
Oh dear god, just getting Jack and River together in the same scene…
Forget sex, we’re talking about Eleven dealing with INNUENDOS IN SPACE!
‘Twould be hilarious.
Jesus, Thomas, you need to practice your trolling if you’re gonna play with the big boys/girls/non-gender specific people here. That is so much nonsense, I’d almost mistake you for a discordian. Except few of the discordians I’ve interacted with are such dumbfucks. +10 for effort, -a billion for being stupid.
I just want Rory. In the Centurion armor. That’s all.
There are rumors that Jack will show up as a guest star next season. These rumors fill me with joy.
Molly: Would not say no. Not at all. I adore Rory – he’s just so sweet and nice and sometimes scary.
Thomas said… words. And the syntax seems okay. But… mostly humans try to use language to mean things.
I hope your colourless green ideas keep sleeping furiously, Thomas.
I KNOW! Poor thing, we know how he can blush! <3 Must happen for anniversary. MUST MUST MUST!
I loved how the writers played on the ‘OMG, you killed Rory’ trope in the season finale. That made me happy. And the sequel to ‘The Lodger’ – holy crap baby Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All cracked my shit up.
Kathleen B – OH! Yes, my happy was extreme!
“And the sequel to ‘The Lodger’ – holy crap baby Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All cracked my shit up.” –
This, oh this! Matt and talking to babies is gold! GOLD!
I wouldn’t normally have ever thought I would say that Doctor having a baby would be anything but a bad idea, but this is Matt Smith, and I demand River bear him a Time Pondling, right now.
zhinxy: I’ll admit I was very skeptical about Matt Smith – he looked all young and he had that emo hair thing going for awhile, but the food thing with Amelia in the first episode just utterly stole my heart. And he’s a brilliant physical comedian, which I adore – early and constant exposure to Buster Keaton*, I think.
* I grew up in a neighborhood that was for many years a vaudeville colony, and Buster kind of grew up there in the off season. I think I was in college before I realized that not everybody knows who he is or that his favorite fish joint used to be where my elementary school is now.
“in these fantasies, the woman is being taken by someone who looks like
Hugh JackmanVin Deisel”Fixed.
Though my fantasy involves a lot more than just a bit of consensual non-consent with Vin Diesel some of which isn’t currently possible without some serious advances in technology and genetic engineering. That is why it is a FANTASY to masturbate to not reality.
BUSTER <3 I discovered him when I was about 10, lucky you!
He is so angry that women don’t find men the center of their universe, isn’t he? SO. MUCH. RAGE.
Eleven is the Doctor I’d most like to fuck. Sooooo cuuuuuuuuuute. His knees are just the cutest.
Spear is not my #1 fantasy because I feel creepy fantasizing about people I know. Otherwise, well, I confirm or deny nothing…
zhinxy: it’s weird, every once in awhile, I’ll just randomly mention where I grew up, and it’ll turn out the person I’m talking to is a big fan. They’re usually ‘OMG, what was it like? Have you seen the autograph? Did you know that one of the houses there was supposed to have had the fountain of youth?’ In order: An awesome neighborhood where all the hippies went, yes, and dude, my parents owned that property for years, but the well is gone. I’ll admit it can be a little strange.
But I totally got my love of good physical comedy from Buster and John Cleese (Fawlty Towers, omg!).
@Pecunium
Thanks, it means a lot to me that someone calls me precious and a flower. I like gardening. I planted some tomatos this year but it wasn’t a good summer and I had to harvest them green. I made chutney which tastes ok-ish.
@CassandraSays
Not sure if you are talking to me, if so you are right. I just came home and I’m pretty wasted. IMHO the best time to post on manboobz.
@KathleenB
You don’t get it. I know it’s nonsense. That’s the point. I’m one level ahead of you.
@Viscaria
It’s dadaism. Actually, I’m an artist.
“I’m an artist” is the new “sociology class full of students doing a social experiment.”
@VoiP
You are projecting. I’m in a happy place.
Thomas: Dude, I’m a fucking discordian. I get it, you’re being an asshat while not making sense on purpose. There’s no art or depth in that, it’s just being an asshat in public.
If you want to learn about the joyful art of making no fucking sense at all, read the Principia Discordia, consult your pineal gland, and don’t be an asshat.
I tried to make mango chutney last year but it turned out kind of badly and I haven’t tried chutney since then. What’s your recipe?
KathleenB: Love to the principia forever. fnord!