General Question

poofandmook's avatar

Why do people (mostly women) often react to extreme cuteness with violence?

Asked by poofandmook (17320points) July 25th, 2008

You know, how someone will pinch a child’s cheek hard while gritting their teeth, how sometimes people say about a baby, “look how cute, I could just EAT them!”... how sometimes you feel like you could squeeze your new kitten/puppy until they pop like balloons… why is that?

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25 Answers

jrpowell's avatar

And why do men play catch with babies? I have seen lots of men toss babies in the air and try to catch them.

tinyfaery's avatar

I get you poof. Sometimes I feel like I just want to bite a chunk off my wife and eat it That really is gross!, or I want to squeeze my kitty to death. I think it has to do with wanting to possess something I love.

Anyone remember Elmira from Tiny Toons? I want to love you and squeeze you, and put you in a cage and keep you forever…

poofandmook's avatar

my good friend has an adorable long-haired chihuahua and he always says “I just want to squeeze her and smash her and shove her in between couch cushions!”

marinelife's avatar

I am so glad that I am only sharing cyberspace with all of you squeezers and pinchers! :)

dragonflyfaith's avatar

I used to have a friend, but he don’t move no more.

kevbo's avatar

am I the only one who sees the irony in this question?

poofandmook's avatar

@kevbo: about what?

poofandmook's avatar

because I said (Mostly women)? Because in this case, it’s not negative.

eambos's avatar

Dragonflyfaith: My thoughts exactly. It’s just like Lennie from John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men.

dragonflyfaith's avatar

@Eambos I haven’t seen or read that in so long but I remember feeling deeply disturbed. I think I was 10 when I saw it.

Edit for above I had a little friend once, but he don’t move no more. I’m bad with lines!

ninjaxmarc's avatar

because they are finger licking good.

SuperMouse's avatar

I have a friend who says that God only lets us humans love our babies eight, because if we loved them 10 we would eat them.

aneedleinthehayy's avatar

this is so true! and i’ve been wondering why FOREVER.
i honestly cant even think of like, an “instinct” reason or something. like “oh our ancestors use to have to kill cute things so thats why we immediaetely react this way blah blah blah”
hmm…one of lifes mysteries i suppose

jamms's avatar

to quote fight club: I wanted to destroy something beautiful.

In that instance the cause was jealousy.

Zaku's avatar

Isn’t it overstimulation? The thought is intense and adds and adds, one can’t stand it so one wants to stop it?

It’s also useful for getting people past shyness or whatever’s in the way of them ripping each other’s clothes off…

Trance24's avatar

WE MUST ABSORB ALLLL THE CUTENESS!!

kasmel's avatar

It’s about wanting to possess something and take it into yourself. Read Freud’s On Narcissism: An Introduction and “Mourning and Melancholia”... They each give very good explanations.

tinyfaery's avatar

yeah, except Freud is a quack. Everything he’s ever said has pretty much been dispproven. He’s only good for literary analysis these days.

kasmel's avatar

I think that’s a pretty large generalization. And no, everything he’s ever said has not been disproven. A lot of things have; I’m pretty sure I don’t have penis envy, for one, but some of his thoughts have radically shaped modern psychology or at least directed its path. For example- Ego, super-ego, and id, defense mechanisms, projection, fixation, psychoanalysis- were all created by Freud and are still considered valid. Regardless, though, psychology is such a liberal science that it honestly can be legitimately compared to literary analysis.

tinyfaery's avatar

We owe Freud terminology and psychoanalysis. With the dozens of MFTs, MPs, MSWs, PhD etc I have worked with in psych fields, not one has ever used Freud to explain or determine anything about a patient. They mainly use him as a model of what not to do, and as someone
to laugh at.

kasmel's avatar

Well, I suppose you have more qualifications than I do (I’m an undergraduate student), but I still am astounded when reading some of Freud’s texts. Mourning and Melancholia is particularly interesting to me and I don’t think that you can ignore the idea of narcissistic identification and internalization, etc… It just makes sense, but maybe just to me. I’m not sure if the way I view Freud can be applied to determining anything about a patient (as I have no experience with that_ but I think a lot of his work is incredible if looked at only as an idea.

Zaku's avatar

But don’t psychologists laugh at Freud because of they have a metaphoro-phallo-envious Oedipal complex about the father of their discipline? Or does the question (not?) make you want to gouge out your own eyes?

stratman37's avatar

if you love something, set it free. If it doesn’t come back, hunt it down and kill it!

Nimis's avatar

I think it may have to do with wanting that person or thing as close to you as possible. Besides eating them, the other option is intercourse. And I don’t think “Oh my god that kitten is so cute! I want to fuck the living shit out of it!” is an appropriate response.

Nimis's avatar

Life is a series of choosing the lesser of two evils. ;)

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