The Ruthless Ways Women Compete With Each Other - Dr Tracy Vaillancourt - #711

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
Hello everybody, welcome back to the show. My guest today is Dr. Tracy Vaillancourt. She's a professor at the University of Ottawa, a researcher and an author, with a focus on the link between violence and mental health. Intrasexual competition is present in all animals. However, the sophistication of this rivalry amongst human females is unbelievably impressive. The fairer sex wields their competition in some very weird, wonderful and ruthless ways. Expect to learn why women use indirect aggression as a competition strategy, how resource scarcity influences their competition, whether children actually developed just fine with no consequences during the pandemic, the relationship between bullying and social status, the impact of bullying on a developing brain, and much more. This episode is brought to you by Whoop. Whoop is a 24-7 health and fitness coach that tracks your sleep, strain, recovery, stress, and more to provide personalized insights to help you to reach your goals. Whether you're obsessed with putting in a little more effort in the gym or getting those extra hours of sleep, Whoop helps you improve your everyday health and wellness. Each morning, Whoop gives you a recovery score that acts as your daily guide for how much you should exert yourself. At the end of the day, you'll get a recommendation for your ideal bedtime and wake time. You can also track over 140 different habits and behaviors to see how they impact your overall health. You can stop guessing about what's happening inside of your body by wearing a small thing on your wrist that tracks absolutely everything. Also, you can join for free, pay nothing for the brand new Whoop 4 strap, plus you get your first month for free, and there's a 30-day money-back guarantee. So you can buy it for free, try it for free, and if you do not like it after 29 days, they will give you your money back. Head to join.whoop.com/modernwisdom. That's join.whoop.com/modernwisdom. This episode is brought to you by Element. I have started my morning every single day for the last three years the same way, which is with Element in water. It tastes fantastic. It reduces muscle cramps and fatigue. It optimizes your brain health. It regulates appetite and it helps to curb cravings. It's got a science-backed electrolyte ratio of sodium, potassium and magnesium. Super simple. There is nothing fancy going on here, but it really does work. Also, they have a no BS, no questions asked refund policy. So you can buy it 100% risk-free and if you do not like it, they will give you your money back and you don't even need to return the box. That's how confident they are that you love it. They are the exclusive hydration partner to Team USA Weightlifting and relied on by tons of Olympic athletes and high performers in the NFL, NBA, NHL and FBI sniper teams, plus tech leaders and everyday athletes around the world. Head to drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom to get a free sample pack of all eight flavors with any purchase that's drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom. I have absolutely fallen in love with House Of Macadamias macadamia nuts. They're ready salted macadamia nuts are literally like crack. They're the best tasting nuts that I've ever had. They've got this buttery melt in your mouth texture. They are absolutely phenomenal. Best of all, they are extremely good for you. Macadamia nuts are shown to boost testosterone levels, help with fat loss and have the best heart healthy mono and saturated fat profile of all nuts. They're like an avocado on steroids. They've also got half the carbs of cashews and vertically integrated with over 90 of their farming buddies. So you get the absolute best quality and price straight from the source. This is why guys like Tim Ferriss, Joe Rogan and myself are all massive fans. Right now, you can get a free month supply of macadamia milk when you go to houseofmacadamias.com/modernwisdom and use the code MW20 at checkout. That's houseofmacadamias.com/modernwisdom and MW20 at checkout. But now, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Dr Tracy Vaillancourt.
Do women have an intolerance of sexy peers?

**Tracy Vaillancourt** (4:22)
Absolutely. 100%. We say we don't. We say that we just love women and we promote women, but we love certain women and we promote certain women. So yeah, we're not the angels that we purport we are to be. I think we do a lot of impression management.

**Chris Williamson** (4:45)
Who are the women that we do support and love?

**Tracy Vaillancourt** (4:51)
It depends. Obviously, we're going to have different qualities that we admire in a person. So if they have those, then I think that that's who we're going to promote. We're pretty good at tolerating our friends and promoting our friends. But I don't think we're universally kind to all women. And it's interesting because I think that there's been this change in zeitgeist where people or women talk about how the sisterhood has never been stronger and we support each other unconditionally, and yet we really don't.