Wednesday, September 27th, 2006...9:31 am
Does Janet Albrechtson ever just shut up?
In general I’m very glad that Janet Albrechtson is out there busily fighting the straw feminist orthodoxy of 1974 and letting the rest of us get on with our lives. It’s only every now and then I’m tempted by the teaser on the cover of The Australian, and find myself reading her column.
Today’s column is about how women have female brains. Actually, it looks as if the research she’s discussing might be considerably more sophisticated than that, but you can’t really tell by reading Janet. [However you can get a hint of what poorly constructed crap it might be, and an indication of how generous a soul I really am by reading this at Language Lab - thanks to Kate for the heads up.]
My favourite part of Janet’s story (well, my favourite bit from as much of it as I could bring myself to read) is the answer to the question of why teenage girls never shut up:
Talking activates what [author Louann] Brizendine describes as the “fluffy, purring kitty … feel-good brain chemicals” – oxytocin and dopamine – “which together deliver the biggest, fastest neurological reward you can get outside of an orgasm”. Maybe that explains why women like to talk during sex, perhaps looking for a double dose of delight.
Eww. Too much information, Janet.
Mr Albrechtson, my thoughts are with you.
14 Comments
September 27th, 2006 at 10:18 am
Now wait a minute not all of us talk…
Anyway. You don’t need to know that.
About Brizendine’s book: well, here’s a post on Language Log that seems quite interesting.
The whole biological sex differences subject is such a conservative wheelbarrow, isn’t it? Sigh.
September 27th, 2006 at 10:32 am
Thanks for sharing, Kate. The language log link, I mean!
It’s a fantastic link – I’ve only just caught on to the site and it is a highlight of the intertubes. I’ve edited the post to include it.
September 27th, 2006 at 11:31 am
I really loved the graphs and tables in that link!
September 27th, 2006 at 12:21 pm
Therefore, Elsewhere, you are actually a man, because we all know women cannot cope with complex maths, or graphs, or tables.
September 27th, 2006 at 12:26 pm
“Mr Albrechtson, my thoughts are with you.”
I think that’s a bit of a fib. Or at the very least an exaggeration.
September 27th, 2006 at 1:44 pm
‘snot my fault, ThirdCat. My hormones made me do it.
September 27th, 2006 at 3:59 pm
Ewww. Janet. I just wrote a similar post about the ill informed lacklustre opining of Caroline Overington. You read the article that inspired it here.
September 27th, 2006 at 7:59 pm
Well eff me. Like you I try to avoid Albrechtsen. My heart cannae take it anymore. But again, when they whack her on the front page I have to read it. I read this post this morning and have only now got to her piece. I was getting all wound up ready to write something for one’s own blog but realised there was no point. You can’t argue with (il)logic like that.
BTW, my favourite front page leader for her was ‘Albrechtsen on drugs’. I wrote a letter to the Ed pointing out that that would explain a lot. Alas, it was never printed.
September 27th, 2006 at 9:48 pm
You deserve a medal Zoe, for reading Janet so we don’t have to.
September 28th, 2006 at 10:03 am
What I appreciate about Janet is that, bless her, she gets it wrong equally about everything. Feminism, the gays, the ALP, etc – every article is consistent in its dubious sources of information, straw man arguments and unfounded reasoning. That in itself is a proud achievement.
September 28th, 2006 at 1:31 pm
Yep, she’s an equal opportunity ignoramus.
and saint, I should point out that I couldn’t finish the column …
September 28th, 2006 at 10:02 pm
Neither presumably did she. Though its hard to tell…
September 29th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
kerrist. I can hardly even go near that sort of twaddle these days, let alone read it, let alone not want to explode with annoyance.
btw, ta to Kate and Zoe for that brilliant Language Log site. there’s enough reading there for a few months… wow.
October 6th, 2006 at 9:55 pm
Oh Janet Albrechtson, let me count the ways in which I hate thee. I had (briefly) convinced myself you had slipped into a hole in space and would trouble us no more, but alas.
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