Over at psychology today they have an interesting article which claims (among other things):

Long before TV—in 15th- and 16th- century Italy, and possibly two millennia ago—women were dying their hair blond. A recent study shows that in Iran, where exposure to Western media and culture is limited, women are actually more concerned with their body image, and want to lose more weight, than their American counterparts. It is difficult to ascribe the preferences and desires of women in 15th-century Italy and 21st-century Iran to socialization by media.

Now I’ve always been skeptical of the claim that somehow women are uniquely affected by mass media but it always seemed plausible that (the illusion of?) social mobility and the exposure to the rich, famous and beautiful that media provides increase our preoccupation with these sorts of status symbols. Of course it’s quite plausible that in 15th century Italy and 21st century Iran beauty is/was the only means of advancement for women making it relatively much more important than it is in a society where advanced degrees are as beneficial to women as their attractiveness. However, I don’t even know if this claim is even true much less why so if anyone has any references or personal experience that would shed light on this claim I would love to hear it.

As you might have guessed I’m a bit suspicious of the claims in this article. Not only is it in psychology today and lacks references but it claims that men prefer blonds. Studies I’ve seen suggest that while being blond may be a net advantage (because their are fewer blonds then men who prefer them) the majority of men actually prefer brunettes.

Another interesting claim made by the article is that:

One explanation is that the human pupil dilates when an individual is exposed to something that she likes. For instance, the pupils of women and infants (but not men) spontaneously dilate when they see babies.

Is this true? Is it just a statistical correlation or does this hold even for women who dislike babies and men who like them?

Anyway the article is interesting and has some provocative suggestions but I certainly wouldn’t go assuming that something is true just because they say so.