[stcredzero]

Reminds me of a friend from college. She's now an astrophysicist. It seemed to me she had some trouble being taken seriously, because she was drop-dead gorgeous. Demure girl next door looks with a body that was swimsuit model material. (Even sans airbrushing)

I think some people saw her, learned what her major was, then concluded it was too good to be true. Also, it was hard for a lot of guys to think with 100% efficiency in her presence.

[milesskorpen]

> ... Also, it was hard for a lot of guys to think with 100% efficiency in her presence.

I wish people thought more highly of men. I think that this kind of sentiment is inexcusable in the workplace. We're (mostly) all adults here. People are perfectly capable of working around attractive people.

[lrhot9]

Similarly, people are also perfectly capable of working while thirsty, hungry, scared, cold or tired.

If you're an actual post-pubescent person, you could do a simple experiment: Try to do serious work with half the screen playing video of attractive people, then try it with video of three-toed sloths. Do they require the same amount of executive functioning? The same amount of energy? Assuming of course that you're romantically indifferent to sloths, that the number of cuts per second is roughly equal, etc.

Suppressing phylogenetically old parts of the brain is never free, even when it's desirable. Is this sentiment inexcusable in the workplace?

[karamazov]

Actually, there are studies[1] showing the opposite: it's difficult for men to think straight when around attractive women.

[1] for example: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103109...

[badclient]

That's equivalent to citing studies showing that women are indeed weaker when it comes to math or computer programming.

The counter argument then is that it is because of society that they are weaker. The same could be argued here: it is because of society's conditioning of men that they can't think straight when around attractive women.

[marshallp]

There are differences between males and females in pretty much every species on earth, I don't think you can ascribe "society" to every gender. As a man, natural instincts to flirt with the attractive women can get you a sexual harassment charge - when women do it to attractive men it's fine with everyone. Some part of the man's brain is going towards stopping his natural instincts which can lower work performance.

[danso]

I think you are mistaken to think that being a man, in itself, is what causes flirting behavior to be hit with a sexual harassment complaint. The greater factor is that the man in the equation is likely to be the one in power, and thus the woman has a reason to feel threatened if she rebuffs him.

[stcredzero]

To be fair, that's quite subtle. Power relationships are often invisible and masquerading as something "light." It's easier to understand if you've been on the short end of the stick a bunch of times.

[stcredzero]

> ... Also, it was hard for a lot of guys to think with 100% efficiency in her presence.

I wish people thought more highly of men...People are perfectly capable of working around attractive people.

This was something I observed firsthand. Hardly scientific, of course, but still. I've also experienced palpable disdain and hostility from professors, up until the first test was graded, and they realized I was one of the top scoring students. There's just this slowly fading cultural phenomenon where some people expect certain professions to be populated by males who fit a certain mold.

Yes, people are perfectly capable of working around attractive people. In those contexts, there's time to acclimate and time to get to know them as people. As a college student, there are other contexts where there aren't the same strictures as a workplace and all you have to go on at first is what they look like in cutoff shorts and a "farmer's daughter" getup. (I once saw her have that effect on a visiting prof in that outfit.)

[Duff]

People act differently around unusually attractive and unattractive people. Some of these folks have issues that seem odd at first glance, like a tall, exceptionally attractive woman who cannot find a date.

It happens to guys too. At the end of the day, humans are really bizarre creatures.

[vectorpush]

it was hard for a lot of guys to think with 100% efficiency in her presence.

Do other men really think this way? If so, then I carry a considerable advantage over my peers who are afflicted with diminished mental capacity in the presence of an attractive woman.

I'm a heterosexual male in my mid 20s and attractive women do not phase me at all. After my brain acknowledges the presence of an attractive woman, it simply moves on to the next thing. So what if she is attractive? If you care to take a few passing glances at her... ok, then what? Are you going to stare at her all day? Why? That isn't boring? She's just a woman; one of billions who qualify for the subjective title of "attractive". I just don't understand.

[AndyKelley]

For some guys, it's the anguish of constantly being in the state of wanting to make a move, but not knowing how.

[vectorpush]

Like I said, there's an innumerable quantity of attractive women abound, why is it necessary for a man to obsess over the one in closest proximity?

Most men don't find it necessary to "make a move" on every attractive woman they pass on the sidewalk, why then should they be in a constant state of anguish because the attractive woman is present in the room and not passing by on the street?

[3143]

Hitting on the woman you pass by on the street won't get you in trouble for sexual harassment.

[groby_b]

No, but it will hopefully get you a slap in the face.

Hint: It's rude to hit on people you barely know in a context that's not explicitly social. (Edit: Even there it's not exactly a master stroke. It's always a good plan to get to know people before you "hit" on them)

[vectorpush]

So what's your point? I am still at a loss as to why one must obsess over an attractive woman, especially if there is an expectation that one's advances will not be well received.

[stcredzero]

Familiarity breeds attempt.

[btilly]

Yes, men really do. The sight of an attractive woman reorients male priorities. In particular it leads to short term as opposed to long term thinking. Occasionally it disrupts higher mental functions, such as speech. (This can be very amusing to watch.)

[michaelcampbell]

Perhaps you are wired differently than most[1], but my bet is you're experiencing the same phenomenon that people think they can supertask, but really can't. Or they're the 1 in 1000 that can actually drive (or play pool, or, or...) as well or better after "a couple beers" as 100% sober.

But, I could be wrong too.

[1] https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&#...

[BerislavLopac]

Check point #3: http://www.cracked.com/article_19785_5-ways-modern-men-are-t...

Yes, I know it's a comedy site and they're over-exaggerating their points, but most of the time they base them on actual research.

[aaronbrethorst]

This wouldn't, by any chance, be a woman named Tea, would it? I knew a girl in middle school and high school who was drop-dead gorgeous, incredibly smart, and a cheerleader, if memory serves, who went to Harvard and is now a post-doc at NASA.

[tesseractive]

Are there really so few women in the discipline that running across a reference to an attractive female astrophysicist likely means it's the same one you're thinking of?

[ismarc]

Considering that I'd guess the number of phd astrophysisists at under 10000, a generous 50% female ratio, and 95th percentile for level of attractiveness, we're looking at 250 potential matches, or .4%. Odds are low, but not off the charts low and only improve if there's less than 50% women. Whether awkward or not, it's not unreasonable to ask given the chances.

[tesseractive]

Ah. I didn't think about the fact that the overall pool of astrophysicists was small.

[stcredzero]

My friend is well past the post-doc stage of her life. Also, different Ivy League school.

[aaronbrethorst]

Ah, got it. Figured it was unlikely, but worth asking.