Feds Spend $222,172 Studying How Men Look at Women When They Drink

NIH study to limit ‘male-initiated sexual aggression toward female acquaintances’

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is spending over $200,000 to study how men drinking alcohol look at women.

In an effort to limit “male-initiated sexual aggression toward female acquaintances,” researchers at the University of Iowa will analyze the actual eye movements of young men when they are drunk and sober.

“While their eye movements are monitored, participants will view 200 unique scenes that depict a woman who varies along sexual interest, provocativeness-of-dress, and attractiveness dimensions in a background context that varies in sexual relevance,” according to a grant for the project. “Participants will judge the woman’s sexual interest after viewing each scene.”

The project theorizes that men lose their “sensitivity to women’s sexual interest” as they drink. The study also will explore whether males aged 21 to 25 years old have “rape supportive attitudes.”

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