Sexist men who abuse women on Facebook and Twitter are compensating for their own poor performance,

[LanternWaste]

Here’s a research finding that should surprise no one: The men most likely to harass women online… are the men most likely to have their own problems.

That bit of validation comes courtesy Michael Kasumovic and Jeffrey Kuznekoff, researchers at the University of New South Wales and Miami University, respectively. For their latest study, published in the journal PLOS One last week, the duo watched how men treated women during 163 plays of the video game Halo 3.


In each of these environments, Kasumovic suggests, a recent influx of female participants has disrupted a pre-existing social hierarchy. That’s okay for the guys at the top — but for the guys at the bottom, who stand to lose more status, that’s very threatening. (It’s also in keeping with the evolutionary framework on anti-lady hostility, which suggests sexism is a kind of Neanderthal defense mechanism for low-status, non-dominant men trying to maintain a shaky grip on their particular cave’s supply of women.)

In other words, like your mother always said, bullies just feel bad about themselves.


http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/sexist-men-who-abuse-women-on-the-internet-are-compensating-for-their-own-poor-performance-study-finds-10403481.html