Good morning team,

Thank you Teasdale for the stellar guest editing last week! Now I'm back and I hope you are looking forward to some links on what people think women do.

To kick us off, let’s have exactly the sort of middlebrow whatnot Fem Friday is built on. I was really interested in this study of how people perceive the time men and women spend talking, although I might write a huffy letter to The Economist to ask why mansplaining is not included as a proper word in their style guide yet:

When they played scripted conversations in which male and female speakers took perfectly balanced speaking times, respondents heard the woman taking 55% of the speaking time (even when the male and female actors swapped scripts). […] In one study, women were more likely to offer reactions (“yeah” or “that’s right”) and men more likely to offer answers. […] this would help explain […] “mansplaining”. If one partner in a conversation is seeking dominance and the other is seeking co-operation, the status-seeker will wind up hearing co-operative conversational turns as submissive. That may explain why people think women talk more: in the stereotype, it seems they are nattering on with no clear purpose.

http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21723806-stereotypes-and-flat-out-myths-bedevil-discussion-women-and-mens-speech

I’d never noticed this phenomenon before reading this article, but it’s true, there are so often shots of women moisturising their hands or bodies before bed in TV shows! I have done this recently, but only because I’m British and therefore an idiot who gets sunburned every June like I never saw the sun before. Enjoy this primer on the Night Lotion Instagram account:

This is neither death wish on buying Jergens in bulk, nor a critique on moisturizing; we all need a bit of softness in our lives. The problem here is that the lotion, whether sensually applied or rubbed vigorously, is a visual distraction during moments of potential character development and depth. “Is there anything else a woman can do?” Wawerna asks me in giddy exasperation. “Can we just sit with this woman, who’s clearly having a moment with herself, or going through something?”

https://thehairpin.com/ladies-who-lotion-5d330f6355a6?source=collection_home---4------3-----------

Finally, if you are not aware of the “Ken of Barbie and Ken is a lesbian” meme, please take this opportunity to acquaint yourself with it. This post gets extremely good around #60 (it’s ordered descending) and maintains the pace:

Stef: girl that mesh top

ken is a go-go dancer at hot rabbit but doesn’t like to talk about it

Jenna: sun sensation ken has definitely been awake for at least 36 hrs and she’s just running on cocaine and glitter

https://www.autostraddle.com/75-ken-dolls-ranked-by-lesbianism-383518/

Happy Friday! Happy weekend!

Alex.