What's a little sexism between friends?

Re: The Vancouver Sun, Tuesday July 15:

OK, I know that it's only the Arts section, but glancing through this story made me think "You have GOT to be kidding!"

Sealed in a kiss discusses a study of kissing from an evolutionary perspective. And while I'm the first to jump in and defend scientists, especially evolutionary scientists, the study really sort of proves that science has its share of flakes and nitwits.

Here's what caught my eye: Susan Hughes, an assistant professor of psychology at Albright College in Pennsylvania, is quoted as saying, "We found that females place more importance on kissing to screen for potential mates, while men, especially with short-term partners, use kissing to increase their chances of having sex." So far, so good. That meshes pretty well with my own impressions of male/female sexual politics. But then she went further.

"Women use kissing more as a mate assessment device, while men use it more as a means to an end," says Hughes. "This suggests females are more discriminating and males are more opportunistic."

Excuse me? How did this become a platform for moral judgments? She jumped for the 'men aren't as nice as women' argument pretty quickly. Notice how men are described as using kissing just as a means to an end? This woman must be a complete idiot not to realize that assessing mates is also an end. I think someone's got issues with men!

If evolutionary psychology tells us anything, it tells us that women are every bit as shallow as men where sex is concerned.

But what really bothers me isn't the scientist, but (big surprise) the journalist. Shouldn't a competent journalist have picked up on that odd little bit of prejudice, and brought it into focus? Maybe even made it the entire point of the article? Wouldn't a piece on the anti-male biases of a female scientist creeping into her work make an interesting story? One would think...unless the journalist in question, Jennifer Parks, has a few issues of her own.

But that's the Vancouver Sun for you.