Hot fyzikz chykz!
Sean Carroll has a post ostensibly about Einstein, but actually mostly devoted the relative hotness of women physicists. He claims that women physicists are notably better looking than the general population, which, regretably enough, has not been my experience. Of course Sean moves in classier circles than I do, but from where I sit women in physics look pretty average, except for being disproportionately left handed (and, of course, smart).
On the other hand, Sean is always going on about the discrimination against women in physics, so maybe this is a mechanism. Men can get hired in tenure track positions if they are good, but women competing for the same jobs need to be good looking too.
Self-hating male that he is, Sean can't resist dissing men in physics:
studentsreview was a bit more even handed:
UPDATE: Sean has pulled his comments on "hotness" after getting a bit of criticism from the usual suspects. Sean, of course, is worried about his 'feminist credentials' (Should I get part credit for almost resisting the urge to say "what a wuss?"}, but his critics really ought to learn a little biology. Yes, most males, or at least most heterosexual males, have some automatic program in their brains that evaluates women on the basis of their sexual attractiveness. Related circuitry evaluates other males primarily on whether they look like potential rivals or threats. Women, because of their different biology, no doubt do the arithmetic slightly differently. Protest against it if you like, but your efforts might be equally profitably protest the weather or the nitrogen content of air.
On the other hand, Sean is always going on about the discrimination against women in physics, so maybe this is a mechanism. Men can get hired in tenure track positions if they are good, but women competing for the same jobs need to be good looking too.
Self-hating male that he is, Sean can't resist dissing men in physics:
...if you talk to women scientists about the prospects of finding potential boyfriend material among their male colleagues, you will hear a telling motto -- "The odds are good, but the goods are odd."The version of this I first saw, from a female Caltech sophomore at
studentsreview was a bit more even handed:
Dating at Caltech: For girls, the odds are good, but the goods are odd. For guys, the odds are terrible and the goods are all screwed up.
UPDATE: Sean has pulled his comments on "hotness" after getting a bit of criticism from the usual suspects. Sean, of course, is worried about his 'feminist credentials' (Should I get part credit for almost resisting the urge to say "what a wuss?"}, but his critics really ought to learn a little biology. Yes, most males, or at least most heterosexual males, have some automatic program in their brains that evaluates women on the basis of their sexual attractiveness. Related circuitry evaluates other males primarily on whether they look like potential rivals or threats. Women, because of their different biology, no doubt do the arithmetic slightly differently. Protest against it if you like, but your efforts might be equally profitably protest the weather or the nitrogen content of air.
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