Data are the Natural Enemy of Hypotheses: Reply to Holland (2009)

Abstract

In our study (Voracek & Fisher, 2006), we analyzed available online data (as of mid-2001) for a sample of 125 elite (i.e., highly popular and successful) 1990s porn actresses from a leading European adult media company (Private Media Group Inc., www.prvt.com). Our central finding from this unobtrusive-measures design was the following set of associations. In this sample of porn actresses, lower body mass index (BMI) (an androgenousness cue) was correlated with more frequent movie starring, whereas several curvaceousness cues (waist-to-hip ratio, waist-to-bust ratio, and bust size) were not. Conversely, in the same sample, curvaceousness cues (lower waist-to-hip ratio, lower waist-to-bust ratio, and larger bust size) were correlated with more frequent magazine starring, whereas the androgenousness cue (BMI) was not. Of note, the association of lower BMI with more frequent movie starring remained even after we statistically controlled for models’ age, magazine starring frequencies, and curvaceousness cues. Similarly, the associations for each of the curvaceousness cues with more frequent magazine starring remained after we statistically controlled for age, movie starring frequencies, and the respective other curvaceousness cues. While it is a truism that correlation does not equal causation, correlations do have causes. A pattern of correlations, found in the same sample and as distinct, differential, and stable as the above set of associations, is striking, and, in all likelihood, it reflects some underlying causes. Specifically, in our case, it led us to speculate whether visual cues to female physical attractiveness might indicate domain specificity. Thus, in our original discussion, we proposed that cues of androgenousness (versus curvaceousness) may be particularly salient for evaluating the attractiveness of moving (versus posing) female bodies. In Holland’ (2009) comment on our work, he takes issue with the general approach we used, calling it ‘‘problematic.’’ Specifically, Holland asserted that porn actresses or nude models were an allegedly poor source of information about the features underlying female physical attractiveness, as evaluated and preferred by heterosexual men. Although we are in agreement with Holland in that the majority of previous physical attractiveness research has limited ecological validity, we do not agree with Holland’s assertion that sexually explicit media (especially those available on the open market) lack validity and are inappropriate for the study of female physical attractiveness. We do not stand alone in maintaining this perspective; his stance is clearly in the minority, as indicated by the number ofcontemporary, authoritative appraisals and research examples pertaining to this question that we cited when discussing the background of our own research (Voracek & Fisher, 2006, p. 298). Most notably, we referred to Salmon and Symons’s (2001) well-known statement, reiterated here, that adult media’s ‘‘characteristic features have been shaped in free markets by the cumulative choices made by...men...who have ‘voted’ with their money’’ (p. 56). More research examples along these specific lines have been reviewed in a recent monograph about consumption, as viewed from the standpoint of evolutionary psychology, which was published after our article (Saad, 2007, pp. 228–235). It is precisely this inevitable logic concerning the constraints and dynamics of free markets that are shaped by consumers who vote with their money that is relevant here. Market forces constitute the M. Voracek Department of Basic Psychological Research, School of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria