Tea at Trianon: Contraception and the Science of Attraction

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, December 12, 2014

Contraception and the Science of Attraction

From Life Site News:

The birth control pill distorts a woman’s view of a potential mate, according to a newly released study. Researchers found that women using hormonal contraceptives were more likely to find physically undesirable men attractive while on birth control, potentially leading to a rude awakening down the line when the hormones wear off and they realize they aren’t attracted to their husbands after all.

The study, released Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, followed 48 couples for four years of marriage, and another 70 couples for one year. Researchers found that women who met their husbands-to-be while taking hormonal contraceptives experienced a marked decrease in marital satisfaction upon quitting the drugs – but only if their husband was not above average in his physical appearance.

Those women who married classically attractive, masculine-looking men reported increased satisfaction after quitting contraception.

"Given that women prioritize attractiveness differently when they are on versus off [hormonal contraceptives], I thought that going on or off [the pills] should affect how happy they are with their partner," study leader Michelle Russell, a graduate student in psychology at Florida State University, told Fox News.

Russell pointed to previous studies showing that women who experience natural fertility cycles are attracted to traditionally masculine-looking men while ovulating, possibly because these men are perceived unconsciously by women to have stronger genes than their weaker, more effeminate counterparts.

Because the progesterone and estrogen in hormonal birth control affect women's fertility and prevent ovulation, Russell’s team concluded that contraceptive users have their natural instincts dulled by the drugs, clouding their ability to discriminate between physically attractive and unattractive mates. (Read more.)