Is this a gender thing?

[elettaria]

You know how some people will take off their glasses during conversation, most often for emphasis? Has anyone else noticed that this seems to be a predominantly male practice? The only time I've ever noticed a woman do it is President Roslin in Battlestar Galactica, and I can't think of any women I've seen do it in real life, while I've seen umpteen men do this, both in real life and in films. If you wear glasses, do you do it yourself? I don't, but then I'm just about into severe myopia, so I never wander around without my specs on and have no desire to make life suddenly foggy.

[Poll #1266699]

Comments

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

Oh, and if you actually do this yourself, I'm curious to hear what makes you do it, in more detail than that little box gives space for. Are you short- or long-sighted? How well can you see people without your glasses, and how does it affect eye contact to change suddenly from one to the other?

[sam-t.livejournal.com]

I can see perfectly well with my glasses on, only after a while I can feel my eye muscles working harder than they should be if I'm looking at things at the wrong distance. I don't know how it affects other people, but taking my glasses off mid-conversation feels a bit awkward to me - after all, it's not something I intended to do. On the other hand, it does give me something else to do with my gaze for those occasions when I'm listening to someone explaining something at length and I really can't look them in the eyes/face any longer without a pause without looking like I'm staring.

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

Eye contact is weird stuff. I've noticed that the norm seems to be that the one listening is the one to keep eye contact, while if you're talking your eyes stray around. Occasionally you meet people who keep unbroken eye contact pretty much all the time, and it generally takes a while to figure out why this person is making you feel subtly uncomfortable. At least, that's my experience.

So are you long-sighted, then? I don't have any useful range of vision without my glasses on, I can't even read. Though I'm not as bad as D, who's well into extreme myopia and even keeps his glasses on in the bath. His focal point is the end of his nose, whereas I can't hold my eyes focused at such short range!

[sam-t.livejournal.com]

Yes I am, sorry - forgot to say so outright.

When I was younger, my vision was fine at all distances further away than my nose but not wearing my glasses for e.g. reading, sewing etc. longer than about half an hour gave me headaches. These days, I can't focus on small print at a comfortable distance for more than a few minutes (seconds, if already tired) before my eyes stop trying. Conversely, I used to wander round absent-mindedly with glasses on (and wonder why my hand-eye co-ordination stopped working) far more than I do now, because now it's harder work to use the glasses when I don't need them.

This means that anyone getting within kissing range is a bit blurry, but that any other sort of social interaction is more comfortable for my eyes if I'm not wearing glasses.

[leenah.livejournal.com]

sometimes i'll stare OVER my glasses at someone. that means 'are you kidding me??'

i am severly myopic as well, and would never think of taking OFF my glasses to make a point in conversation. i'd never see the reaction if i did that.

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering if it's the long-sighted folks who do this. I can't remember any of my substantially short-sighted friends or loved ones doing this.

[leenah.livejournal.com]

i imagine it must be. the idea is totally beyond me. yes, i've seen it done, usually on tv, 'cause i'm rarely in a conversation where *points* must be made. make me thing of giles. but that's really not difficult. :)

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

My step-dad does it, and I think my father did it as well. It seems to go with a lecturing style of speech in those sorts of cases.

[leenah.livejournal.com]

think. not thing. thinking thing???

where's my coffee??

[eye-of-a-cat.livejournal.com]

I think in films/TV, it's code for Serious Point Being Made, on the logic that no glasses = direct eye contact. I don't know if that translates to real life, though. I also have no idea if I do it myself (certainly not consciously, at any rate!) - I do fiddle around with my glasses a lot just as a low-level state of fidgitiness, though. I'm short-sighted and the world is a blurry place without glasses on, although if someone's standing/sitting next to me and talking, I could see them in focus with my glasses off.

[woo-diaries.livejournal.com]

When I first started wearing glasses I used to take them off for conversations because I felt as though it was a barrier to proper eye contact, even though really it meant I couldn't see them as well!

Now I still feel weird when I have conversations and can see my frames, so I sometimes still take them off. I'd never realised it could be interpreted another way.

[finnygan.livejournal.com]

Have you considered as well whether people with myopia or people with hyperopia do it, and what the gender differences on that is? I don't know about this, but I'd find it more likely that people with hyperopia took off their glasses when speaking to someone as it would make less of a difference to their ability to focus on the person? It could be worth taking into account, though I have no idea how to actually go about that.

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

Yes, I said that above. I've also realised that at least one of the men I've known to do this was long-sighted and didn't need to wear his glasses all the time. For me, things start blurring about an inch away from the end of my nose (and are difficult to focus on closer than that) and I honestly can't imagine my vision being any different to that. I have no idea whether there's a gender difference with myopia vs. hyperopia. I know that hyperopia tends to crop up and get worse with increasing age, though.

Am I really the only one who's noticed this trend in film? It's incredibly common.

[altglas.livejournal.com]

don't know. never had glasses and nearly all my friends with eye problems have contacts.