Study Shows Men Who Harass Women On The Web Are Straight-Up 'Losers'

This just in: Guys who are mean to women are losers, says science.

(No sh*t, says I).

But really, researchers determined males who are mean to women actually suck... at life.

Well, at least they suck at video games.

Researchers analyzed the behaviors and play patterns of 163 games of Halo 3, a team-based shooter video game.

They found the most successful players — the "winners," so to speak — tended to treat their female peers with kindness and respect.

Conversely, those male players who were jackasses to their female counterparts tended to play poorly; in fact, they were the worst at the game.

If that isn't a metaphor for dating, I don't know what is.

The researchers insist, while their study focused on a video game, these behavior patterns are reflective of the Internet as a whole in many ways. The game, like the Internet, is anonymous and massive, and on sites where aggression ranks highest — like Reddit, for instance — the user base is mostly male.

Lead researcher Michael Kasumovic explains,

As men often rely on aggression to maintain their dominant social status, the increase in hostility towards a woman by lower-status males may be an attempt to disregard a female's performance and suppress her disturbance on the hierarchy to retain their social rank.

In layman's terms: The men who are mean to women are the ones who fear the women will be better than them and take what they have. They feel threatened.

If you think about it, it's kind of sad and pathetic, in a way. But not sad enough to make it OK.

So, if there are any guys out there reading this who bully women on the Internet: Grow a pair and cut it the f*ck out, loser.

Citations: Guys Who Bully Women Online Are Sad Losers Study Shows (Cosmopolitan)