An alert reader pointed me to this amazing “map” from the 1830s, posted on Ptak Science Books and originally found here. Described as “A Map of the Open Country of a Woman’s Heart,” it presents a less-than-flattering picture of the supposed shallowness, vanity and selfishness of the female of the species. Click on the pic above to see it full size.
It’s amazing how closely this resembles so many Manosphere “critiques” of evil modern women; the main difference is that it’s a bit more polite in its language. Also, no mention of stinky vaginas.
Manospherians love to talk about “taking the red pill,” as if their ideas are all new and cool and Matrixy. Actually, of course, their ideas are old as fuck. It’s more like they are taking a gulp of Dr. Flimflam’s Electro Magnetic Misogyny Fluid.
Below, another amazing picture also found on Ptak, which presents data on where women’s eyes linger when looking at men. (Again, click on it to see it full size.) I suspect this one would be a bit more confounding to the Manospherians of today, in that it doesn’t show women looking only at the dude’s wallet. The post on Ptak offers a more detailed explanation of what this picture is about.
katz: Awwwwww!
Oh, you wouldn’t want a pregnant hunstman around.
(trigger warning for lots and lots of spiders)
My sister’s friend’s parents woke one morning to a corner of the bedroom absolutely full of tiny little huntsman (I think they were, anyway – it was a while ago) spiders. I’ve had them breeding in my house, I think, but I’ve never seen more than one little one at a time.
To me, they’re so big they go beyond scary to cute and anthropomorphisable, particularly knowing that they’re harmless. They’re almost cuddly, and it’s really sad when to see them missing legs. I’ve named huntsmans (huntsmen) around the house, and talked to them.
This is not a standard Australian opinion or behaviour, mind. And I still wouldn’t touch them.
@Katz, Whoever Katz is quoting:
Does spider-hand-person from that Natural-Japan link get any hotter?
Oh no, we knew that scorpions were venemous and aggressive, it’s just that children are a. stupid and b. insane. My mum did once describe parenting as trying to keep your children alive for long enough for them to realize that they’re not immortal.
Now when we were lying under a tree and one crawled up my leg (my bestie grabbed my arm since I was half asleep and went DON’T MOVE), then it actually occurred to me that maybe I didn’t like scorpions so much after all.
@ Magpie
This may amuse you – one Westerner’s tale of his encounter with the hunstman in Japan. My favorite bit is all his coworkers going “giant spiders? oh no, we don’t have those here”.
http://weirdtales.net/wordpress/2007/10/23/the-year-of-ninja-spiders/
I find spiders far more alarming than scorpions, not sure why, especially if they’re hairy.
Aaaaaaargh! I have a thing about spiders. Scorpions could only be worse!
lowquacks: I admit I’ve avoided looking at the spider pics, not wanting to discover where this particular one falls on the cute to nightmare-inducing scale.
@Katz: If this helps, it’s roughly the size of the hand holding it, but I think it’s cute. It’s fuzzy and brown and spindly rather than a thick black ball of fluff like most true tarantulas.
I am entirely the wrong person to ask about whether it’s nightmare-inducing though.
They are cute. but with fangs. fuzzy brown spiders = OK. shiny black spiders = trip to hospital
@ lowquacks
We had a…well, explosion seems like the best description, of baby spiders once in my house in Saudi. They were so tiny that they weren’t at all scary, until I thought about it later and realized that they would inevitably get bigger.
By the way, in the realm of wierd pets tarantulas are still the ones I find most baffling. Even lizards I sort of get it, they can be cute, but a tarantula? There’s something about a hairy spider that’s just very disturbing.
@CassandraSays
I hear they’re very strokable.
(Shudders)
*de-lurks for the spider talk*
I love huntsmans – they’re so fuzzy! I’ve had some giant ones in my house, with the largest easily being bigger than my hand.
Strokable? I reckon I’d have a stroke if I tried it!
Well, I must admit that I’ve just watched a video of a Goliath Bird-Eating spider being fed a mouse, and can certainly see why you wouldn’t want one as a pet – live food is kinda squicky, and they jump so quickly and unexpectedly and the name’s unsettling enough in itself. They’re an ugly brown Asian tarantula though – the New World ones are pretty colours!
For some reason I find brightly colored insects, spiders, etc less creepy. Bright colored beetles I actually think are pretty, but anything black or brown and hairy looking I don’t like at all. Also very round bodies seem to exaggerate the effect – with both tarantulas and bumblebees it’s the combination of the body shape and the furriness that bugs me.
Wait, they’re not Asian. I must’ve been thinking of something else. Seems not all the New World ones are pretty.
I must remember to actually research things before hitting “Post Comment” in future.
Same thing with roaches versus grasshoppers or crickets. They’re similar looking really, but the bright green crickets I think are cute, whereas roaches just trigger some sort of primal fear of disease.
Also on the “horrifying creatures that should not exist” list – flying roaches.
@CassandraSays
What about something that’s round and furry, but also incredibly pretty and colourful?
(trigger warning: Unbelievably massive spider. And I say this as an Australian.)
http://www.bighairyspiders.com/pix/cobalt1.jpg
Well, it’s quite pretty as a photo, but if I saw one in real life I wouldn’t be happy unless it was safely behind glass.
Also I don’t mind spiders if I’m outside, I just don’t like it when they’re indoors because I imagine them sneaking up on me when I’m asleep, jumping out when I’m in the bathroom, etc.
Washed a huntsman down the bathtub drain with hot water once. Later I was on the loo when it came crawling out of the floor drain, between my feet.
(More shuddering)
Just wait, tomorrow’s angry rant will be about how that EVIL BITCH spits on the plain, unattractive spiders and then BLATANTLY FAWNS OVER the cool looking, colorful ones. My hypergamy is so extreme that it even extends to arachnids!