We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
It's all about "The Dark Triad." From Yes, Chicks Dig Jerks, and evolutionary science gives us a good idea why:
The Dark Triad is a combination of psychological traits — subclinical psychopathology, subclinical narcissism, and what Professor Jonason calls “Machiavellianism” — that are, he believes, in fact a unitary phenomenon associated with a higher level of sexual success, defined in the literature as a larger number of total lifetime sexual partners. The correlation of the Dark Triad with larger numbers of sexual partners holds true for both men and women, but the effect is much more pronounced in men. This is unsurprising, inasmuch as men’s relative preference for larger numbers of short-term sexual relationships and women’s relative preference for long-term relationships is, as Professor Jonason notes, “one of the most consistent and strongest sex differences in the field.”
So: Machiavellianism, subclinical psychopathology, subclinical narcissism: not exactly the stuff of a Jane Austen romance, but apparently the stuff of sexual success. Professor Jonason concludes: “Together with low amounts of empathy and agreeableness” (I warned you this was depressing stuff) “such traits may facilitate — especially for men — the pursuit of an exploitative short-term mating strategy.”
But you knew that already, if you are a homo even half sapiens and went to high school.
That's all true of my experience with skirt-chasing seducers. They know how to say exactly what you need to hear but, in the end, you will never be enough for them because, Psychiatric as it may sound, they are really manchilds looking for Mommy while having fun with pseudo-adult seduction, romance and sex along the way.
Image is Luigi Bassi in the title role of Don Giovanni in 1787, via Wiki.
This is as fresh as the day he wrote it. The great (young) man himself conducted the premiere of this astonishing (comic?) opera in Prague, in 1787:
My question is probably related to Tom's: it is my understanding that domestic abuse is about evenly divided. In about half the cases, the man is the abuser, but in the others, the man is the abused (yes, that is woefully underreported). And -- if I remember correctly -- this refers to physical violence, not emotional violence, which is probably more common, but a much more slippery thing to define.
I've been on the receiving end of both physical and emotional abuse (no more and nevermore), and was surprised to read in several sources that women abuse men about as much as men abuse women. Because women aren't as strong as men, they tend to cause less damage, or at least don't cause severe harm as quickly as a violent man can.
To stop digressing and get to my point: have there been any studies where they've switched sides? In other words, ARE chicks who are jerks more attractive?
My definition of sexual success is sticking it out with the same gal for 57 years, with 5 of 6 happily married, plus grand-kids, ggrand-kids etc. No interest in explanations of "sexual success" that don't contribute to the persistence of our species.
Why do you call such men immature? They have evolved a successful strategy for mating and, in my experience, they often enough father children. It's not a question of morals and maturity, it's about natural history. You might as well call a cockoo immature. Brood parasite would be more accurate, and, as Barzun said about decadent, it is a technical term, not a moral judgment.
--the described archetype was the Camelot cat's pajamas not so long ago, see James Bond, JFK, Sinatra, Rat Pack. Feminism may have dustbinned the guy, but i'm not sure individual gals have. But the cool cat has to make the lady laugh --it's the fun that takes the gambol.
It's all about "The Dark Triad." From