So PUA nimrod and would-be philosopher-king Roosh Valizadeh has put on his “science” hat again, reporting what he describes as the “two seismic implications” of a recent study of flies.
The first is that a woman can absorb enough DNA during her lifetime that it changes her phenotype (i.e. her appearance and overall health state). There could be some truth to the phrase “slut face” in which highly promiscuous women suffer a change to their appearance because of all the variable sperm from different males that have been deposited inside them.
Wat.
The second implication stems from the fact that it’s scientifically conclusive that single mothers have DNA of their bastard children residing permanently within their bodies. Any man who reproduces with a single mom will have a child that contains DNA from the bastard spawn, which of course includes DNA from the absentee father. This means that men can be genetically cuckolded without being traditionally cuckolded, and that having a baby with a single mom is essentially giving the father of her first child a bonus prize in the game of evolution.
Now I’m no biologist, but this seems like a giant stinky pile of horseshit to me. I mean, what the hell?
In the interests of actual science — as distinct from PUA “science” — I sent Roosh’s post along to actual biologist PZ Myers.
His first reaction was “ick.” And then he sat down and wrote a post in which he declared that “there’s literally nothing correct in any of that mess” from Roosh I just quoted.
Nothing. Roosh has imposed his faulty, biased interpretation on the work in a way that would certainly horrify the authors.
Naturally, the conclusions that Roosh draws from his completely wrong premises are also completely wrong:
For thousands of years, a woman’s purity was cherished above all else when it came to creating a family. Now the scientific community is confirming the validity of that practice. Until the science is settled, men who insist on reproducing with a promiscuous woman should at least demand to interview her previous sexual partners so he can become familiar with the men whose genes may be passed on to his future children.
I think it’s fairly safe to say that the only DNA Roosh will be passing along to future generations will be found on the kleenex on the floor next to his bed after he dies alone and unloved in whatever obscure country he ends up in because he thinks it’s the least feminist on earth.
You can see PZ’s full takedown here.
In the meantime, we can now 3D print prosthetic limbs (among other body parts) for people on the cheap. 😀
And they look badass (most likely because they can be customized for the person using it far easier than traditional prosthetics)!
http://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/exo_0003_Layer-3.jpg
http://3dprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/evanfeatured.jpg
And have a cute video of one in action.
How stressful must it be to be this worried about being cuckolded yet simultaneously insatiably driven to find more and more implausible ways to consider yourself cuckolded?
I so appreciate this metaphor XD
Also, when I saw the headline on Pharyngula, I immediately guessed the source and decided to read here first.
It was Roosh IV.
(Sorry, I know the V is an initial)
I think I know what confused him. During a pregnancy, some cells with fetal DNA exist in the mother’s bloodstream. I remember reading something about small amounts of DNA remaining in the mother’s body after birth. Maybe he read that and completely misinterpreted the entire thing, thinking that the fetus’ DNA is spliced with the mother’s in every cell. And he apparently doesn’t know that eggs, unlike sperm, are for the most part present in the ovary-haver’s body at birth, and therefore wouldn’t be affected even if this was somehow true.
So Roosh knows even less about biology than he does about women and that’s saying something.
So, you’re saying I should trust some pointy-headed ivory-tower academic over a guy who has banged his way across 7 continents*?
*Yes, 7! I have it on good authority that Roosh got busy in Antarctica. He wasn’t planning on it, but then a penguin got into the alcohol and got drunk so …. hey, it’s what he does!
This is something that used to be believed, a while back; if your valuable dog got pregnant by that handsome mutt down the street, she could never produce purebred pups and was considered useless. Somebody or other suggested something similar as an “explanation” for why married couples supposedly grow to resemble each other. Stephen J. Gould, quoting this, commented that “on the subject of why people resemble their pets, he was silent.” Can’t remember what the name used to be for this theory, and now all I can think of is one of the other theories they used to have, where there was a tiny homunculus inside every sperm and if it was male it had even tinier homunculi in its teeny homunculus sperm, and so ad infinitum.
Cholera bacteria can trade DNA with viruses. That’s how it becomes pathogenic. I guess that means evil women have the power to DNA jack innocent male viruses and use it make the menz shit themselves to death.
This is beautiful.
Thank you for it.
“Given the tiny numbers and the insignificant contribution of microchimeric cells, the idea that semen modifies women’s appearance to give them “slut face”, whatever that is, isn’t just stupid — it’s daft. It’s also rather insulting to males: essentially 100% of the cells in our faces have Y chromosomes. We must have really slutty faces.”
That last part was pretty hilarious lol
Woah what a cool use of 3D printing!
David Futrelle,
It sounds like Roosh V is about as good at science as a creationist.
I know right? 😀
I’ve also heard stories of 3D printing hearing aids, organs (although that’s far off still), and there was a news story about a boy who got a thing 3D printed to help keep his airways open, since he suffered from a condition that caused them to collapse alarmingly frequently (and he’s not the only one).
Apparently, there’s a lot of things we can already 3D print for medicinal uses!
http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/852/331/c86.jpg
When I got pregnant, the DNA from every man I’ve ever come into contact with waged a glorious all-out battle for world supremacy inside my fallopian tubes. I’m talking American Gladiator-style combat, with miniature tennis ball cannons and shit.
If you want to be a father, your nucleic acids had better be prepared to kick some serious double-helix ass, because gangs of DNA thugs are gonna be laying for them in there. It’s not enough for you to lift, bro. Your sperm needs to lift too.
I can’t believe I’m going to say something (very slightly, but not really) positive about this pile of BS but it’s not the worst misconception about foreign DNA in the body I’ve seen. That cake is taken by attributing autism to vaccines via the viral proteins used in some vaccines being made in a cell line derived from donated aborted fetal tissue back in the 60s.
At least in this case we are taking about whole cells being present and orders of magnitude more foreign DNA. It’s still horrible misrepresentation of the science, but not the worst I’ve seen in this field on the internets.
Roosh apparently has a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from the University of Maryland, College Park. He definitely should know better than to “creatively” interpret research literature like this. But even having a strong background in your field doesn’t mean you can’t decide to be a crank if it suits you. There are Moon Landing denialists who have master’s and PhD degrees in aerospace engineering from well regarded schools.
I love you and PZ so this is like a double-scoop gelato treat!!
It’s about ethics in Slut-Faced microchimerism.
GUYS. YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS.
YOU HAVE TO STOP DRINKING ENERGY DRINKS. RIGHT NOW.
Because you know, taurine has something to do with bull sperm which means you better put down that can of Monster or else YOU WILL GROW HORNS.
SCIENCE!
Telegony is a long-disproved theory (not a scientific one) that informed all sorts of strange and disagreeable cultural practices, including the biblical levirate. As for “slut face”, while both women and men who have (not confined to sexual) dissolute habits (e.g., Rush) tend to acquire a certain glazed, slack-jawed look, the only difference I have noticed between the merely sexually adventurous and those who are less so is that the former have a bolder, more outgoing demeanor, which most prospective partners find attractive.
My mom was married to an Italian and had my brother and my dad- mother’s rapist is a man so does this mean I’m part Italian as well including being part man and rapist? I apologize I don’t mean to bring rape into this and I’m not trying to joke about it I’m just so confused.
Sunnysombrera
0-o wow you cannot be serious but it would be cool to grow horns. Also by that logic we shouldn’t eat honey because it has bee spit so if we eat that we become bees! And I also heard that some perfumes (I don’t know which) have some kind of animal’s urine so we shouldn’t use them either we might become that animal! The horror!
Roosh doesn’t believe a word of this “science.” He just wants to keep his brand relevant to everyone who hates women.
And Roosh–the deeply conflicted pickup king–is trying to ruin the game of all pickup artists by saying that the women who have sex with pickup artists are sluts. Do you think that women don’t know what you say?
Doodz, why have sex with these inferior beings? Look no further than your hand.
Roosh lists a B.S. in microbiology from the University of Maryland on his “resume” and has referred to himself as “a man of science.” Yikes.
Ugh, really? So that’s why they go on about ‘aborted fetus cells’, because of stuff derived from stuff derived from some tissue from the 60s?
Just… just UGH.