As annoying as the characterization of women as sex objects in Fifty Shades of Grey may be, perhaps my friends have an excuse for enjoying it. A biological excuse. According to a recent study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, our brains may recognize men and women differently. Specifically, they register females as body parts more easily than males.

It's not just the male brain, either. The study found that when shown photos of average men and women and then shown the same photos but with the body parts isolated, people always recognized the female body parts faster than the male. This indicates a different method of processing in our minds.

The researchers hypothesize that this difference in recognition is carnal: men are looking for mates and women are sizing up their competition. Either way, I'm not sure if I'm buying it. What do you think?

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