Some saddening, if unsurprising, news from Science today: apparently women eat less when they're dining with men than they do when in the company of fellow women, according to new research. Ladies, get it together!
Researcher Molly Allen-O'Donnell parked herself in a student cafeteria to observe how people eat with their peers. What she found is that when women sit with other women, they order an average of 833 calories, but when they sit with men, they only purchased 721 calories, perpetuating the belief that women must eat like birds around big tough manfolk—a belief that can lead to dangerous eating disorders. Interestingly, when men dine with other men, they order about 952 calories, but when they sit down with women, they order 1162 calories worth of food, perhaps in a Neanderthal-esque attempt to prove their strength.
"None of the participants that Allen-O'Donnell spoke with said they were aware that the gender of their dining partners affected how much food they purchased," notes NPR, which warrants the following PSA: Ladies, stop this nonsense and eat up with all dining companions—science also says that men like women with some meat on their bones.
