An emailer sent this story in:
The parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, has been transmitted indirectly from cats to roughly half the people on the planet, and it has been shown to affect human personalities in different ways.
Research has shown that women who are infected with the parasite tend to be warm, outgoing and attentive to others, while infected men tend to be less intelligent and probably a bit boring. But both men and women who are infected are more prone to feeling guilty and insecure.
Other researchers have linked the parasite to schizophrenia. In an adult, the symptoms are like a mild form of flu, but it can be much more serious in an infant or fetus. Oxford University researchers believe high levels of the parasite leads to hyperactivity and lower IQs in children.
Lafferty, who is a parasite ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey at the University of California at Santa Barbara, is an expert on the role parasites play in the ecology of other animals.
The researcher’s idea is that cat parasite, that infects rats to affect their behavior, also jumps to Humans changing their behavior.
What I do not understand in this guy’s theory is how the parasite infects the humans. He says that rats get infected by the parasite by eating cat feces.
Do feminists eat cat feces? Could this be causing their strange behavior? I highly doubt this parasite can infect or alter Human behavior as this particular researcher thinks (which is probably why media is constantly calling him). Still, it is a fun theory that reverses the standard: instead of one becoming feminist and getting cats, rather it is those around cats who become feminist.
