Swimming pool anthropology
Nov. 16th, 2007 07:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylHas anyone else noticed the strange way swimming pool behaviour tends to split along gender lines? Based on my observations, it seems to be the case that women tend to swim up and down determinedly doing lengths and putting in the time. Men on the other hand, seem to hang around in the shallow end for long stretches, eventually deigning to swim a single length, usually in an extremely splashy crawl, before returning to their resting place, exhausted.
In the case of couples, the same general behaviours are observed, but the male may display additional characteristics whilst loafing, such as adopting a condescending expression or waiting until his partner has reached the halfway mark before employing his swift-but-untidy style to beat her to the end of the pool, where he will wait with an air of patronising nonchalance, only slightly marred by hyperventilation and cyanosis.
If I could be bothered I'd apply some zero thought evo psych justifications, something about the male behaviour allowing them to letch over as many potential mates as possible whereas the females attempt to do something that demonstrates their fertility and health to a potential mate. But since that would be a load of specious post hoc nonsense, I'm not going to bother.
In the case of couples, the same general behaviours are observed, but the male may display additional characteristics whilst loafing, such as adopting a condescending expression or waiting until his partner has reached the halfway mark before employing his swift-but-untidy style to beat her to the end of the pool, where he will wait with an air of patronising nonchalance, only slightly marred by hyperventilation and cyanosis.
If I could be bothered I'd apply some zero thought evo psych justifications, something about the male behaviour allowing them to letch over as many potential mates as possible whereas the females attempt to do something that demonstrates their fertility and health to a potential mate. But since that would be a load of specious post hoc nonsense, I'm not going to bother.
