"Specialknives: The study you cited only relates to a single aspect of psychology and physiology: that of human sexual response. I can assure you that there's far more to the workings of human society than merely sexual response, so if you want to make statements about the relative genetic differences between the sexes compared with the social differences, you'll have to do rather better than that. You say that the advantage afforded to attractive people is due to the "choices all of us make to consider beauty important," but I would challenge that viewpoint in that we do NOT have a choice about whether or not we value beauty. We ALL value beauty - some people may deny it, but they'll still dress up for a date or a job interview, they'll still prefer an attractive life partner to an unattractive one (all else being equal). The fact is, our brains are hard-wired to value physical features that suggest social, genetic and reproductive superiority, and both beauty and privilege (as a representation of social status) are entrenched in those choices. But I say, so what? It's naive and transparent to even lie that Miss Universe pageants value intelligence as much as beauty, but I say that no lie is needed. It's about beauty, but beauty is to be celebrated, not condemned. Isn't it also a transparent lie to pretend that society as a whole does NOT value beauty (and we're talking both men and women here) - to sweep pageants under the carpet as if we're rather embarrassed that that aspect of our society is made so obvious? "Oh I'm sorry about my sister, she's the black sheep of the family - terribly beautiful - we don't really like to talk about her..." Ridiculous. Beauty should be acceptable, just like any facet of society: creativity, intellect, culture, religion, or race. It certainly shouldn't be the basis for stereotyping, belittlement, or abuse, as purported by this article's author."

"Tooblack: In its context (see, um, the rest of her post), Hick was hardly being celebratory. If that's the best celebration she can manage, I wouldn't recommend attending her parties. :)"

"Apparently, QJump is fail (to use popular internet semantics). A number of avid fans hoping to patronise Splendour have been frustrated by the online ticketing system, and a Facebook group has now sprung up dedicated to jumping the fence on the day: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=14791133137&ref=mf Sounds like those IT guys will miss some sleep after all... "

""Organisers claim theirs is some higher purpose of quiz shows, but truly their sole aim is to select the best mental specimens, to completely objectify and reduce someone to the sum of their intellect alone." How is this a more valid or worthy contest, hmm? Does winning Jeopardy somehow make one a better or more worthy human being?"

"What a narrow-minded, cliche and frankly antiquated view you're espousing. The view you're advocating seems to be that women must choose between valuing their appearance and valuing their ability; that somehow, entrants in a pageant are incapable of intelligent thought. Women can be beautiful AND capable. An intelligent woman might well choose an event like this to give them personal or career opportunities they wouldn't otherwise have access to. You'll probably berate me for not considering the wider ramifications on womens' rights. But I put it to you: isn't it the ultimate right of women to be able to choose their own personal identity, and not be shamed for not conforming to a cropped-headed, hairy-legged, bra-burned stereotype of female "freedom"?"