A new study out of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, found that female dragonflies of a specific species, the moorland hawker, will suddenly play dead mid-flight and crash-dive to the ground in order to avoid the harassment and advances of male dragonflies.
According to researcher Rassim Khelifa via New Scientist, the moorland hawker is vulnerable to harassment when it lays eggs because its mate doesn’t guard it, unlike other dragonflies. A single sexual encounter is enough to fertilize all the female’s eggs, and could subsequently damage her reproductive tract.
Within mere minutes of the study’s publication, hundreds of women chimed in on Twitter to identify with the dead-dropping, harassment-avoiding moorland hawker butterfly.
https://twitter.com/DavidNelsonNews/status/857650614897188869
https://twitter.com/LlLCOZART/status/857656079651663872
https://twitter.com/taytheasthmatic/status/857658923511410690
Yet another thing female dragonflies and I have in common https://t.co/WlFfufcQvx
— j d 🍊 (@orange__jay) April 27, 2017
https://twitter.com/WickedBeaute/status/857665162530213889
We gotta follow their lead, ladies. https://t.co/ol7uQRKg4O
— damita jo (@KiaSpeaks) April 27, 2017
https://twitter.com/yungsakii/status/857672145647714304
https://twitter.com/AmandaMiIIs/status/857674209606205440
relatable https://t.co/zEGSZMWNJ1
— lindsay (@lindsaydemeola) April 27, 2017
— BELA (@sweeterbela) April 27, 2017
https://twitter.com/ireenee_b/status/857678589541601280
https://twitter.com/_liltigg/status/857681160901734404
https://twitter.com/somethingtosky/status/857681282683351040
https://twitter.com/civilwarbore/status/857682126438903808
— romy (@2r0m3) April 27, 2017
https://twitter.com/razaviniki/status/857683308985151488
https://twitter.com/starwarsbuck/status/857683339402240001
https://twitter.com/LONELYST0NER/status/857690792323952641
https://twitter.com/lmaomelanie/status/857690843024691202
i always knew i wasnt human https://t.co/5a8VXP7nEf
— vanne 🪦♏️ (@CUMBACKTOME) April 27, 2017
i finally know what my patronus is https://t.co/7TwPAcKC5R
— elena (@elena_yip) April 27, 2017
Who did a study on me https://t.co/RdweafJm64
— . (@esnuupii) April 27, 2017
https://twitter.com/frankoceansmom/status/857724169361907712
Yes, this is quite possibly the most relatable, hilarious study conclusion women who have experienced harassment have come across in some time because it has to do with insects instead of actual humans. Like LOL, could you imagine if women could avoid being accosted by a harassing man for another second if they just crossed their eyes, stuck out their tongues, and keeled the fuck over? Hilarious!!!
We get these tweets are jokes (we all made them, too). But think about it: Harassment of female humans by male humans is so awful that real-life adult women are finding humor in wishing they too could emulate a flying insect and fucking crash land into the cold, clammy embrace of death, just in order to get men to take a hint and leave them alone. Literally hundreds of women find solace in jokes of faking their own destruction over receiving unwanted attention from a man.
The amount of responses that included some form of the phrase “Same,” “It me,” and “I feel you, sis” is infinite—all over an insect that dive-bombs to its possibly real death. How bad must harassment be for this to be the alternative women prefer over most anything having to do with unwanted attention from a man? Pretty fucking bad.
https://twitter.com/daniecal/status/857653512238489600
So like our version of 'I fell asleep'. Nice https://t.co/hOaI7PPrX2
— Bo Diddley (@damnnnn_homie) April 27, 2017
Him: hi, would you like to….
— LoLa (@lolalissaa) April 27, 2017
Her: *interrupts* I can't, I'm suddenly dead
https://twitter.com/deshachrist/status/857658623962566659
https://twitter.com/helloalegria/status/857663180180533248
https://twitter.com/jenavievehatch/status/857667892443316228
https://twitter.com/Jenn_Mattern/status/857668267346972672
Using headphones isn't enough anymore. https://t.co/7brI34kzHA
— 🩵 Infinity Sex’s Broken Lamp (@sisternoles) April 27, 2017
https://twitter.com/MissAngelaDavis/status/857679002542198785
My girls can't ever just relax. https://t.co/aHCvl6n8Y5
— #babyZ🩰 (@babydollzari) April 27, 2017
leadership https://t.co/AFieYRilRD
— miss honey 🍯 (@foyinog) April 27, 2017
https://twitter.com/PhysicistLisa/status/857691699698692100
https://twitter.com/myra_mc/status/857691838202892288
A feminist icon https://t.co/xdgudCchFH
— selina kyle (@TVNYX) April 27, 2017
Another researcher from the University of Vigo in Spain said female moorland hawkers only play dead if male harassment is “intense,” which by human standards could mean anything from being asked to take off your headphones to getting IRL murdered.
Khelifa also found that the females will often retreat to dense vegetation while laying their eggs “probably to hide” and “act dramatically when they emerge.” Which, again, as an adult women, I too would totally do if I was getting harassed while going about my fucking business. Imagine not being able to fly freely about your pond without a male dragonfly trying to get it in all because he doesn’t see you with your dragonfly boyfriend—some shit, huh!
So yes, pardon me if I duck into some heavy brush because this fuckfly’s been following me for the last five lily pads and then get upset once I’m fed up with hiding because I can’t be left alone and would rather pretend I’m dead. It’s hard out here for females of any species, apparently.