We have all thought about it at some point and now a new study has confirmed the theory of most women. That, men who harass women online are most likely to have issues of their own and are literally losers in their life.
The study has been released by researchers at Miami University and the University of New South Wales who observed how men reacted and treated women during 163 games of Halo 3. According to their findings, men who tend to be performing well give compliments and were cordial to other players regardless of their gender. However, other male players who were less-skilled or worse performers lashed out at other players particularly women. So basically, they are literally losers!
The above graph from the study suggests that men tend to treat each other in the same manner no matter what their skill level. However, as the skill level declines those men often pass nasty comments to the female players.
These results can also be used to understand the real-life behavior of people. However, while interpreting the study keep in mind that: (1) players are anonymous; (2) they only encounter each other a few times in passing — it’s possible to hurl an expletive at another player and never see them again; (3) games like Halo 3 are heavily biased towards men.
According to the researchers of the study, “A recent influx of females in such areas has disrupted a pre-existing social hierarchy. That’s okay for the guys at the top — but for the guys at the bottom, who stand to lose more status, that’s very threatening. As men often rely on aggression to maintain their dominant social status, the increase in hostility towards a woman by lower-status males may be an attempt to disregard a female’s performance and suppress her disturbance on the hierarchy to retain their social rank.”
What is your opinion about the online harassment of women and the people who are involved in it? Let us know in the comment section below.
