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The history of gossip

Gossip gets a bad reputation – from tabloids full of salacious celebrity gossip, to the badly behaved teens of television programmes like Gossip Girl. But while it might get dismissed or reported as an unsubstantiated rumour, gossip is a key part of politics and the way the world works.

Gossipy women are over-represented in popular images of gossip. An informal analysis of 100 Google images of gossip revealed 62% were of women only, 7% were men only and 31% showed men and women gossiping. This reinforces the popular and enduring myth that men don’t gossip, but research shows that men and women engage in the same amount of gossiping activity.

Gossip can be traced back to the origins of language. Evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar even argues that language evolved to enable people to gossip.

查看中英双语全文，微信关注“可可英语晨读”公众号。关注即可【加入晨读打卡学习群、领取双语全文pdf笔记，还能了解更多关于外刊精读的小技巧】。更多更快更精彩的内容，尽在“可可英语晨读”公众号。