f/k/a archives . . . real opinions & real haiku

– Welcome to those coming from Blawg Review Awards 2005.

For our reaction to winning the “Creative Law Blog” Award,

see thanks a lot (for all this pressure) .

Nothing demonstrates the importance of cuteness in our  

emotional lives and consumer habits quite as well as the

Christmas gift-opening ritual among an extended, multi-

generational family.  “That’s so cute” and “Isn’t it-she-he

cute?” was repeated over and over last week in millions of

homes.

 

But that same ritual, along with the entire Holiday shop-

ping, gifting, and decorating experience, also seems to show

significant differences between the genders in reacting to the

Cuteness Factor.  As I’ve opined on previous occasions,

“It’s cute” seems to be a sufficient reason for most women

to bring something home and for most men to want to smile

once and then leave it where they found it. 

evening star…
she sleeps with the lion’s tail
in her little hand

 

            Tom Clausen

An article in today’s New York Times, “The Cute Factor” (by

Natalie Angier, Jan. 3, 2006), provides plenty of information

on what we deem to be cute: “practically anything remotely

resembling a human baby or a part thereof” — to wit, “bright

forward-facing eyes set low on a big round face, a pair of big

round ears, floppy limbs and a side-to-side, teeter-totter gait,

among many others.”

 

Jessie Cohen/via Reuters 

 

The article also discusses why cute is important:

“Cute cues are those that indicate extreme youth,

vulnerability, harmlessness and need, scientists say,

and attending to them closely makes good Darwinian

sense. As a species whose youngest members are

so pathetically helpless they can’t lift their heads to

suckle without adult supervision, human beings must

be wired to respond quickly and gamely to any and all

signs of infantile desire.”

Therefore, “The greater the number of cute cues that an animal or 

object happens to possess, or the more exaggerated the signals

may be, the louder and more italicized are the squeals provoked.”

 

The Times article notes that “Primal and widespread though the

taste for cute may be, researchers say it varies in strength and

significance across cultures and eras.”  NYT appears to be too

Politically Correct, however, to suggest that the taste for cute also

varies in strength between the genders. Happily, I am not.  That’s

probably because: (1) I just finished reading Marriane J. Legato, MD’s

Why Men Never Remember and Women Never Forget (2005), which

details the many differences in the male and female brains, bodies,

emotions, etc.  (2) I’ve never known a male who collected Hummels.

 

And, more importantly, (3) For over 50 years, I have noticed that

girls and women say “Isn’t that cute?” far more than boys and

men do.  Indeed, it seems to me that males almost never

initiate the topic of cuteness — unless they are trying to get on

the good side of a female.

 

This gender difference makes sense.  The evolution and history

of our race have made it far more important and natural for mothers to

react to the needs of infants than the father.  (I’m not endorsing these

gender roles, just pointing out reality.)   If women were not more

attentive than men to the needs of children, the race would have

died out a long time ago.

 

cleaning the poop out
    his little Superman
          underpants

 

    Tom Clausen

 

The article mentions another aspect of The Cute Factor that also

seems likely to affect males more than females:

“Denis Dutton, a philosopher of art at the University of Can-

terbury in New Zealand, the rapidity and promiscuity of the

cute response makes the impulse suspect, readily overridden

by the angry sense that one is being exploited or deceived.

 

” ‘Cute cuts through all layers of meaning and says, Let’s not

worry about complexities, just love me,’ said Dr. Dutton, who

is writing a book about Darwinian aesthetics. ‘That’s where the

sense of cheapness can come from, and the feeling of being

manipulated or taken for a sucker that leads many to reject

cuteness as low or shallow’.”

Although I had never thought of it in quite this way, Dutton’s notion

resonates with me.  Many other males would, I think, also see

themselves as having the “rational” fear of being manipulated by

cuteness (could it be because men can never be sure just who

fathered an infant and are thus reluctant to make a quick familial

commitment?).   That is surely the male reaction to the advertisers

and product designers who, according to the article, “are forever

toying with cute cues to lend their merchandise instant appeal,

mixing and monkeying with the vocabulary of cute to keep the

message fresh and fetching.”  

 

“SnowManBroom”

 

That’s as far out as I’m sticking my neck tonight.  Your Comments

and insights are welcome, as always.  Hate mail should be directed

at Prof. Yabut. 

 

 

to the cat:
“that’s complete and
utter nonsense”

 

 

 

 

New Year’s …
recycling last year’s
resolutions

second day
of the New Year:
taxes arrive

 

 

Tom Clausen

           from Homework (2000)