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Optical Illusion Reveals Either Our Corrupted Mind Or Someone Else's Creepy Sexual Shame

Posted by Bryan Christian

 

Apparently, if you're a child -- an innocent flower of youth -- you will look at this picture and see a bunch of dolphins, and not the softcore, doggie style action that we know you're actually catching. Pretty cool, right? Yeah, we thought so, until we read the enthusiastically capped caption for the page...

OK then! We'll just be over here scrubbing our genitals with rocks.

Corrupted Mind


Comments

farknerve said:

So, I'm pretty sure there are no actual dolphins in there...but just in case...did anyone else see them?

April 1, 2008 11:59 AM

profrobert said:

It took me about a minute, but my mind obviously is deeply corrupted (for which I blame Scanner Emily for making me watch her say "vagina" repeatedly).

Look at the dark spaces that separate the lovers' legs; each one is a dolphin (and another one's tale forms the woman's pubic area and continues down as the shadow along her right leg.

April 1, 2008 12:21 PM

agreenst said:

I totally could not find the dolphins until profrobert pointed them out. ...I feel dirty.

April 1, 2008 1:50 PM

tartlet said:

I wonder if a child's tendency to see the dolphins has more to do with an inability to "see things" or conceptualize things made out of negative space.  

I'm sure that unfamiliarity with the scenario has something to do with it, but I bet it has a lot to with brain development too.

I also wonder if adults' ability to see the dolphins is connected in some way to right brain/left brain dominance, or other varieties in brain function.

For the record, it took me a sec to see the dolphins, but I saw them...but I'm guessing that for the rest of you, there might be another explanation besides "corruption."  

April 1, 2008 2:35 PM

Maneki Nico said:

So... what do these "YOUNG CHILDREN" see if they have no "PRIOR MEMORY" of dolphins either? I call bullsh*t on this "RESEARCH."

And why are they showing porn to kids in the first place?? Pervs!

April 1, 2008 4:30 PM

wundersmack said:

um, so wait -- "researchers" showed this to children?  This only proves, once again, that science is a total freakshack.

April 1, 2008 8:03 PM

seren_dipity said:

only autistic children would be unable to see the couple. human figures are generally more salient, even when their contrast is diminished. a small child might not know that the couple was having sex, but they would be able to see a man and a woman. (by extension, autistic adults might also have difficulty even seeing the couple)

April 1, 2008 10:46 PM

About Bryan Christian

Bryan Christian has worked as a writer for Epicurious, GenArt and ID magazine; a web producer for WWD and Condé Nast; and a cameraman for his friends. He's married and lives in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.

in

about the blogger

Emily Farris writes about culture and food for numerous publications and websites you've probably never heard of, including her own blog eefers. Her first cookbook will be published in fall 2008. Emily lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn with her cat, but just one . . . so far.

Brian Fairbanks is a filmmaker living in the wilds of Brooklyn. He previously wrote for the Hartford Courant and Gawker. He won the Williamsburg Spelling Bee once. He loves cats, women with guns, and burning books.

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