Beer goggles

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Beer goggles is a slang term for a phenomenon in which consumption of alcohol lowers sexual inhibitions to the point that very little or no discretion is used when approaching or choosing sexual partners. It can also refer to literal goggle-like devices used to distort vision to simulate the effects of drunkenness.

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[edit] Terminology

The term is often humorously applied when an individual is observed making advances towards, later regretting sexual contact with, a partner that is deemed unattractive, unacceptably scandalous, or repulsive when the prospect of sex is considered while sober. The "beer goggles" are considered to have distorted the "wearer's" vision, making unattractive people appear beautiful, or at least possably attractive. Alcohol make you drop your standards to some place where you feel better about yourself and you want to have "sexual intercourse" with anything you know you can get.

[edit] Scientific studies

On daily dose of ethanol, male fruit flies court male as well as female flies. This observed inter-male courtship requires dopamine transmission between neurons in the brain and is encouraged by repeated alcohol exposure.[1]

A mathematical formula has been devised to model this phenomenon in humans,[2] sponsored by eye-care firm Bausch and Lomb, although this research has been criticised as having "no scientific merit".[3]

[edit] In popular culture

 Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (June 2009)
  • The term is alluded to in "Selma's Choice", a 1993 episode of The Simpsons animated television series. On a trip to a Duff beer-endorsed amusement park Bart Simpson found actual "beer goggles" on sale at a souvenir shop; donning them he saw his aunt Selma Bouvier turned into a pouty, alluring beauty.
  • There have been a number of songs written about this, chiefly Smash Mouth's "Beer Goggles", Lagwagon's "Beer Goggles" and Neal McCoy's "Billy's Got His Beer Goggles On".
  • On the BBC panel show QI, Stephen Fry was told what beer goggles were by fellow pundit Alan Davies. Phill Jupitus chimed in and suggested that the posh Fry instead develops Madeira pince-nez or a Sherry Monocle when inebriated.[4]
  • In Season 6, The Mythbusters conducted test to see if alcohol would make people look more attractive, concluding that it was plausible, but that the effect varied from person to person.
  • In Hollywood Undead's song "No. 5", Beer Goggles are referred to as Beer Gogs.
  • In rapper Ludacris' song "One More Drink" it talks about the troubles of having sex with people while having beer googles.
  • A popular song from DodgyD on 2003's The Bad was entitled Beer Goggles.
  • Eminem also lies to his producer about wearing Beer Goggles in his song "Just Lose It".
  • An episode of The Drinky Crow Show is called Beer Goggles where Drinky Crow replaces his eyes with goggles made from beer bottles. This making the previous revolting skanks into beautiful women and see other disgusting things as beautiful or something they are completely not.

[edit] Vision-distorting device

Vision distorting "beer goggles"

Some police departments have literal beer goggles, which distort vision to an approximation of drunkenness. These are used in education programs to teach people, often teenagers, about the dangers of drunk driving.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Penn State News "Daily Alcohol Use Causes Changes in Sexual Behavior, New Study Reveals" Pennsylvania State University, January 2008.
  2. ^ BBC 'Beer goggles' effect explained 25 November 2005
  3. ^ Ben Goldacre, "How GxPxIxC = selling out to your corporate sponsor", The Guardian 18 November 2006
  4. ^ "Drinks". QI (BBC Four). 2006-10-27. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_QI_episodes_%2528D_series%2529%23Episode_6_.22Drinks.22. No. 6, season 4. 

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_goggles"
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