catching up - Saturday

Saturday originally the plan had been to go to Delft. However, when I checked the weather forecast in the morning, it said there was a good chance of steady rain throughout the entire day. Not necessarily a bad thing, but we had been planning to mostly walk around the city and the open air market there, and since "steady rain" here can mean "continuous rain mixed with sporadic torrential downpours", we decided there was a good enough chance that things could turn out very unpleasant. So, it was mostly sunny and nice in Amsterdam, and we decided to just take a day of rest (which we deserved by this point!). Mom and I went back out to the market, where she picked up a sweater that we'd both oohed over on Tuesday (a lovely dusty plummy purply color and very soft), and then I had a chance to pick up what I needed to start my art project for panivazka. After that, we walked through the Oosterpark, which we hadn't had a chance to do yet and which I had wanted to do. We also stopped at one of our favorite Turkish markets, and then the grocery store so mom could get chocolate. She also picked up a particularly nice specimen of winterpeen (carrot), to take home for my great-grandma, who always wants the biggest carrots possible when she cooks. So that's a fun "souvenir". While we were in the store, then it did start raining really hard for a bit, so we just darted from awning to awning, and it let up in a few minutes.

Since we didn't have plans to go anywhere else, this meant we were completely free in the latter part of the afternoon when the BBC had an Old Trek episode followed by two New Trek episodes. (The last few weeks, it'd been just one New Trek, and no Old Trek at all, so this was a nice surprise.) It's been nearly as long for mom since she last saw Star Trek as it had been for me, so that was terrifically fun. And then for supper I made pizza and we watched Doctor Who, and we got to bed moderately early, comparatively, as we had to get up fairly early Sunday morning to catch the train to Berlin. The story of Berlin will have to wait until another entry...

in which I attempt some scientific theorizing

Warning: Vast and wild generalizations forthcoming!

I read an interesting article today about how "women dress to impress when they are at their most fertile." The study was about how women, in many cases probably unconsciously, dress in a more attractive fashion when they are ovulating than when they are not. The researchers took notes about what the women wore, and also pictures (and they didn't tell the women that this is what the study was about), and then later on showed the pictures to men asking "In which of these pictures (all of the same woman) do you think the woman was most trying to appear attractive?" (Not in which photo did they find the woman more attractive, but in which they thought the woman was trying to look more attractive.) The men picked the photo taken at ovulation 60% of the time - which is far more than chance. The researchers found this particularly interesting, because of all mammals, the fertile period of the woman is one of the least advertised. A lot of women, unless they've spent a lot of time taking their temperature daily and keeping notes and are very in tune with their bodies, don't even know when they are ovulating. (I certainly haven't a clue.) There's no wild meows, or heavy scents, or change of skin color. (Well, not generally...)

So this was interesting in itself. But it tied in with something that I've thought about over the last couple of years and which I'm finding increasingly weird. Among humans, it's really the women who are competing to attract the attention of the men. Yes, I know this is a broad sweeping generalization, but I can't help but think of college sorority girls. They put so much time, money, effort into dressing expensively, having the perfect hair, perfect make-up, perfect clothes. Women wear high heels, push-up bras, hair-spray, make-up, they have lipo-suction, breast enhancements, you name it. They will do anything to get the attention of the right kind of guy (rich, suave business man or athlete - the kind that you find in the college fraternities). It doesn't matter which man, they'll take whatever one they can get. And on the other hand, the men can pretty much pick and chose, and when they're sick of one girl, they move on to the next. There is a lot more time and effort invested into "will he like me in this?" than "will she like me in this?" among humans.

This is not the case for many, many other species. It's the men who have the antlers, the big tails, the manes, the flashy colors. It's the men who go around saying "Look at me! Have sex with me! Aren't I great! Look at me!" And it's the women who can look on them scornfully and take their pick.

So this got me thinking. I wonder if, in some small way, these two things are related? Women don't generally know when they are fertile. Therefore, in order to maximize their chances of reproducing, they have to be as attractive as they can as often as they can, so that hopefully one of their matings will happen at the right time and have the desired result. On the other hand, females in other species often either know or can make known to the males when they are fertile - and then it's up to the male to convince the female that he's the one she should chose during her mating period.

I have no idea if there's any basis to this, but I found it very interesting nonetheless!

you know, this isn't that bad of a description...

though I'm not sure I understand what some of the categories are ("female cliche"? "physical security"?)

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