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It’s true: dudes tend to stare at people’s crotches more than women do. How do we know? Experts recently employed eye-tracking software to determine where control groups of men and women looked when presented with photographs of baseball player George Brett.
According to the Online Journalism Review:
Although both men and women look at the image of George Brett when directed to find out information about his sport and position, men tend to focus on private anatomy as well as the face. For the women, the face is the only place they viewed. This image of George Brett was part of a larger page with his biographical information. All users tested looked the image, but there was a distinct difference in focus between men and women.
Thing is, it’s not just George Brett’s crotch the men stared at — when shown pictures from the American Kennel Club’s website, they tended to check out the dogs’ privates as well. So what does it all mean? The experts aren’t sure yet — but maybe it proves that men really are dogs.
Link via Boingboing.
Comments (9)
Comment
What about pictures of women and the focus on their chest?
posted by Rebecca on 3-15-2007 at 9:27 am
What’s wrong with focusing at a mans’ crotch? For me, that’s usually eye level. ;-)
posted by Sheldon Siegel on 3-15-2007 at 9:55 am
Funny thing. I remember, decades ago, seeing George Brett on The Tonight Show after he had hit some important home run. They showed a clip of the home run. Afterwards, the previous panel guest, Shelly Winters, asked Brett what he had in his back pocket. Carson asked her how she happened to notice anything in his back pocket, as he hadn’t.
What made me laugh at the time was that I, too, had noticed a big pad or something in his back packet. So I made the observation at the time, based on the tiny sample of Winters, Carson, and me, that women were more likely to look at a ball player’s ass than men were.
Now here we’re getting a similar study, also using George Brett as object. Odd.
posted by floretbroccoli on 3-15-2007 at 9:59 am
Could it be an unconcious automatic reaction handed down from our prehistoric ancestors? Maybe males check for gender, then for the size of the cajones of another male, to see how how dominant they might be. In the animal kingdom, that would be useful in establishing heirarchy.
posted by Miss Cellania on 3-15-2007 at 11:00 am
I agree with Miss Cellania. Men and dogs check the genitals for who is dominant.
posted by Rhea on 3-15-2007 at 11:13 am
Maybe men are looking at whether he uses his hips to generate power in his swing! I’d like to see if this is true with a non-sports figure.
posted by Stew on 3-15-2007 at 12:08 pm
I WONDER IF BRETTS TEAMMATES TEASED HIM AND IF SO DID HE GET THE LAST LAUGH AND SAY ATLEAST I HAVE SOMETHING TO LOOK AT…HA HA
posted by JOHN BROWN on 3-15-2007 at 1:16 pm
I am willing to bet that if they put a picture of Baryshnikov in his dance attire (leaving little to the imagination), his ‘distinguishing features’ would get even more eyeballs. However, put him in baggy jeans and the peeps would drop off. It think it is more that the bulge is getting attention than the guys are checking him out.
I also read about a study done in the last year that found that women check out men just as often as men gawk at women. Women are just less obvious because they use their superior peripheral vision to scope the bulges. So, that may be what is happening in this shot.
posted by n2y2 on 3-15-2007 at 4:50 pm
I don’t doubt the validity of the study, but i think using the baseball player for part of it was unwise. Men could very well be gauging the strike zone or anticipating the swing.
posted by tim on 3-17-2007 at 3:49 pm