Today in Scientific American, they report:

A Psychological Science study in 2009 first showed the effect. Psychologist Sarah Master of the University California, Los Angeles, and her colleagues studied 25 women and their boyfriends of more than six months.

The researchers subjected the women to different degrees of thermal stimulation--a sharp, prickling sensation--as they either held their boyfriend’s hand while he sat behind a curtain, held the hand of a male stranger behind a curtain, viewed a photograph of their boyfriend or viewed a photograph of a male stranger.

Holding their partner’s hand or viewing his photo decreased the women’s pain significantly more than touching or viewing a stranger--and the photo was just as effective as the physical contact.

Gary, a divorced guy who lives a block away, says that it's too easy for women to divorce their husbands but keep his paycheck. He says that men are increasingly considered obsolete in today's world. I hope he doesn't see this, or I'll get another hour of whining from him.

Not that he's wrong. It's just that I've already heard it. And heard it and heard it. Sheesh!

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battle between the sexes - comforting - photography