Mean Girls: The new study suggests that women are programmed to react bitchily to sexier counterparts(dailymail.co.uk)
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A new study of competition among women suggests that they are 'bitchy' towards each other because they are evolutionarily programmed to be that way.
Published by the journal, Aggressive Behaviour, the study by psychologists at two Canadian universities looked at how groups of heterosexual women reacted to other women who were dressed conservatively and sexily.
Of 46 women between the ages of 19 and 23 studied, all but two were ruder and more judgemental about a sexily dressed woman - who wore a short skirt, high boots and a cleavage-showing top - than they were about the same woman wearing chinos and a plain T-shirt.
Speaking with the Globe and Mail, the report's co-author Tracy Vaillancourt said the women's bitchiness, according to a 'bitchy scale' she and her colleague had set, 'was so obvious.'
The women's reactions were filmed and then judged by a panel of 13 other women.
'They were saying thing like, "Oh, she’s dressed to have sex with her professor," or "Oh, her boobs are about to pop out." They were looking her up and down, and as soon as she leaves the room, they start laughing hysterically.'
She suggests that evolution is to blame.
Citing a 2002 study, the report's authors write: 'Females who make sex readily available compromise the power holding position of the group. It is therefore in the best interest of the group to punish those who violate this unspoken rule/convention.'
Or, as Vaillancourt explained to the newspaper: 'We can’t tolerate anyone giving the milk away for free.
'We are living in a modern context, but we are operating with an old brain. We have this instinctual response to people who defy social conventions in a way that threatens the group.'
The study's authors found that the results fitted with their - and probably many women's - predictions. That is, that women are 'particularly intolerant of sexy attractive peers.'
She even goes to suggest that 'it's women who suppress the sexuality of other women.'
(Read by Lee Hannon. Lee Hannon is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)
一项有关女性竞争的最新研究表明，女性对彼此之间“恶毒”是进化使然。
加拿大两所大学的心理学家研究了几组异性恋女性对穿着保守和穿着性感的同性的反应。该研究发表在《攻击行为》期刊上。
共有46名女性参与了调查，年龄在19岁至23岁之间。其中有44位受访女性都对穿短裙、高靴、和深V低胸衣的性感女郎更无礼，更苛刻。而她们对穿卡其裤加普通T恤的同性态度要更好。
研究报告的合著者特蕾西•瓦兰蔻对《环球邮报》说，根据她和同事设计的“恶毒等级”，女性的恶意“显而易见”。
在调查中，女性的反应被拍摄下来，由13位女性组成的评判小组进行评价。
“她们的评价诸如，‘噢，她打扮得花枝招展是要跟教授上床吧，’或者‘噢，她的乳房快要弹出来了。’女性们把同性上上下下打量一番，一旦同性离开了房间，她们就开始歇斯底里地大笑。”
特蕾西认为这是进化惹的祸。
研究报告的作者引用了一份2002年的调查写道：“让人垂涎的性感女郎威胁到了群体的权力地位。因此为了群体的最大利益，她们会惩罚那些违反这项潜规则或习俗的人。”
或者说，正如瓦兰蔻向报纸解释的那样：“我们不能容忍免费把自己送出去的人。”
“我们生活在新时代，但我们依然秉持旧思想。我们对于公然反抗社会传统，威胁到群体的人会有这种本能的反应。”
研究作者发现研究结果符合她们的预期，这也可能是很多女性的预期。也就是，女性对性感的同伴“特别不能忍”。
她甚至指出，“是女人抑制了其它女人的性征”。
Vocabulary:
bitchy: 恶毒的，坏脾气的，暴躁的
all but: 除了……以外都是
chino: 卡其裤，斜纹棉布裤
compromise: 危机……的安全
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