Who read NY Daily News this weekend? Did you see that article? One called “Extroverted men, neurotic women are the most fertile combination: study“?
If you’re anything like me (Jewish, New Yorker, and yes, neurotic) you glanced at this and were like “Really? Then how am I not pregnant already?”
But then you actually *read* the article instead of just skimming the headline, and realized the following:
First of all, the study took place in Senegal, where, as the Daily News points out, “residents practice polygamy and typically don’t believe in birth control [can we can a reliable confirmation?].” Still, the Daily News goes on to extrapolate:
“But whether in Senegal or America, extroverted men tend to make more money and presumably have more sex. And more frequent sex leads to more babies.”
And
“So why do neurotic women make more babies? They tend to have “attachment anxiety” and so are very motivated to have sex with their husbands, according to [study author Prof. Virpi Lummaa of Sheffield University in the U.K.].”
Which, wait, what? As for the money thing, I have dated a fair number of extroverted men. Most of them were broke. Their extroverted personalities may have been what attracted me to them in the first place, but it was that and not, you know, their earning potential that drew me in.
And as a slightly neurotic woman myself, I resent the idea that “attachment anxiety” would be driving me to have more sex. Is it the neurosis or my gender that’s preventing me from having sex because, let’s say, I want to, and not because I am anxious? You weigh in!
(I’m not even go down the road of how, depending on your neurosis, you could actually be *less* inclined to have sex, or at least unprotected sex, for health concerns/germs… That’s a whole other topic.)
Questions I would have liked to know the answers to (Which to my knowledge the study didn’t answer, but look for yourself to be sure!): Are extroverted men and/or neurotic women actually using birth control less often? Or are they just more fertile? Are they really having more sex? Or just more babies? And what does this mean for me exactly — be extra careful if I date someone with a boisterous personality? Are the results different for neurotic men and extroverted women? Also how, exactly, did they define neurotic?
I guess in the end, the lesson is this: don’t depend on the New York Daily News for reliable medical information, and if you don’t want to get pregnant, use birth control. But you knew that already.
Photo is mine, of my adorable nephew. Yes, this post may have been an elaborate excuse to post a photo of him. What?