Meet the real gossip girls: Guys!
Not only do they do it more than women, they tend to be nastier too… LITA CHAKRABORTY gets the real dope on men and gossip
Kareena Kapoor once raised eyebrows when she revealed that she gets her daily dose of goss from “Karan (Johar) and my brother Ranbir (Kapoor).”
The centre of all Bollywood gossip evidently lies within the domain of these two men. Surprised? Don’t be… In real life too, have you realised that more than all the gossipy aunts in your neighbourhood, it’s the hatta kata mards around you who spend more time tittle-tattling?
Stats say it!
According to a study done by global research company PollStudies, at least 70 percent of men spend almost two hours a day gossiping. That’s 120 minutes in comparison to the 62 minutes that 65 percent of women spend “chatting about others”! Ironical, isn’t it, as the onus of gossiping invariably is shouldered by women. But the verdict is out… men revel in gossiping about others more than women do.
Fave topics
So, what do men gossip about? According to the same poll, the topics veer from the revelry of their tipsy friends, their school mates, the devious methods they have used to reach the top of the ladder, the attractive girl in office and her vital statistics, their colleagues’ salary to their bosses’ non-existent sex lives… As long as the spicy word of mouth gets the desired amount of derisive laughter from the boy band, the goss topic has served its purpose.
Goss centre
The office is the very hub of goss. Supposedly, for the number of hours that men tap in hard-nosed numbers into the computer or give that marketing spiel to their customers, an equal amount of time is spent at the cafeteria or the water cooler gossiping about the sex lives of others. Other places that men indulge in their fave pastime is at the bar or men-only addas where they do the manly thing drinking and gossiping.
Word of mouth
Mumbai-based psychologist Ferzeen Firodi avers, “It’s a myth that women are the ones that spread rumours or gossip about others. Men are worse. A bit of scandal lights up their day as much as that of women. In fact, men spend a lot of time on their phones or WhatsApp groups over the latest goss in town. And let’s face it, be it men or women, hot goss can really spice up an otherwise mundane day.”
Slander zone
Writer Joseph Conrad once said, “Gossip is what no one claims to like… but everyone enjoys.” According to Ferzeen, “Gossip, if not malicious, can be a lot of fun. Whether it’s the male of the species or the female, it’s always nice to hear frothy, fun and more importantly, spicy facts about others. As long as it doesn’t hurt or malign anybody, gossip is a harmless way to indulge in some light bitching.”
She cautions, “When it gets nasty and self-righteous, gossip becomes a cause for worry. I’ve read somewhere that women gossip more positively while men tend to run down people. In gossip, one needs to set a moral boundary. When that fine line is crossed it can go horribly wrong. An erroneous piece of gossip can hurt somebody’s reputation for life. The problem arises when gossip ends up slandering someone’s reputation; once the harm is done, it is sometimes impossible to set things right.”