Picture yourself on a night out with your friends. You’re singing and dancing to Britney Spears Toxic and everything is right in the world. Then a group of toxic lads come over and start to try dance behind you. You’re not into it because you’re with your friends and unwarranted male attention was not on the agenda for your evening.
You politely move away, not wanting to make a scene. They come over again, this time trying to grab your arm. It’s highly annoying, so you drop to the floor, motionless. You play dead. That seems like a pretty reasonable way to get rid of a guy, doesn’t it? Of course, it bloody does, and this is why us women need to take a note or two from my new female icons, the female dragonfly.
Rassim Khelifa, from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, was collecting dragon fly larvae in the Swiss Alps when he witnessed a female moorland hawker dragon fly fall to the ground after being pursued by a male. She lay motionless, until the suitor flew away, then she flew off knowing the pesky male was long gone. Talk about getting creative.
it is known that female moorland hawkers are vulnerable to harassment when they lay their eggs as they aren’t always guarded by their male partners. This means they have to have their guard up at all times, as just one sexual encounter with a male could damage their reproductive tract and fertilise all their eggs.
This type of behaviour is generally more common with other dragonflies, and according to Khelifa ‘females may only behave this way if the male harassment is intense.’ See, even dragonflies have to put with men that won’t take no for an answer.
Female dragonflies, we salute you for your original ghosting tactics, and we’re taking a leaf out of your book tonight when we’re dancing to Britney if any unwanted attention comes out way. Raise your glasses for the dragonfly.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.