I can’t help finding that the choice of attire in the study was very heavy-handed and was fishing for a predictable response (evolutionary psych fishing for stuff?? You don’t say!!). I can almost picture them chuckling: “Hey, we’re going to send in a girl dressed like a college-grad version of Jessica Rabbit; they’re going to hate it! LOL”
I bet the aggressive comments wouldn’t have been nearly as open and vicious were the subjects have been at a party or club. If anything, the negativity may have been turned against the ‘frumpy’ one in that context. I think the reactions are saying much about social expectations regarding attire, but I’m not so sure it demonstrates all that much about female aggression specifically. A room full of males would have probably had a strong reaction and negative stereotypes towards the ‘sexy’ girl (despite the inevitable “I’d tap that”) as well. There’s a shitload of baggage in there.
