Male Gaze Lowers Women's Math Scores

Psych Central News:

By Rick Nauert, Ph.D.
Psych Central News

In the study, women who are looked at as sexual objects not only react as sexual objects, they also exhibit less proficiency with math.

Read the whole story: Psych Central News

Comments

[trainer3]

09:42 AM on 02/12/2011

If I stood at the blackboard multiplying the cosine of the subtended angle by the measured distance with my shirt open revealing my smooth tanned pectoral muscles as I shifted on my smoking tight backside, then I would not be as good as math as....

what?

[craichead2011]

03:20 AM on 02/12/2011

Typical science journalism = total garbage.

67 women and 83 men is too small a sample to say much of anything.

They don't mention probably the most important piece of information: how much is the woman's math score lowered?


Through previous experience this last fact usually indicates that the author is trying to conceal the fact that the difference is negligible and probably meaningless and would have made the headline absurd. But the woman = victim meme sells real well.

[PresidentRobertBooth]

08:36 PM on 02/11/2011

The woman in the stock photo has beautiful buxom breasts.
 
 
I am merely a human heterosexual male.
 
I cannot help but stare at nature's wonderful work.

[BlueZoo]

04:35 PM on 02/11/2011

Incredibly ridiculous! Years ago now, I won a national beauty pageant. I went on to major in math and science in college and excelled at it. I was using computers and learning COBOL and FORTRAN in 1967! If your whole life is consumed with the outward appearances of beauty and your parents raise you to believe your whole worth lies with the way you look, you won't excel at anything else, much less math or science!

[trainer3]

09:38 AM on 02/12/2011

Yes, but the students who were hypnotized watching you at the blackboard work at the BP station selling cigar specials and keeping the half and half dispenser full for flavored truck driver coffee.
It's biology. Your husband has power. He is also tortured that other men look at you.

[DanSc]

07:32 AM on 02/10/2011

Well of course. If a woman makes the decision that her greatest contribution to the world will be her appearance, than of course she won't study math.

[rikster]

09:45 PM on 02/09/2011

what...? did you say something..?

[HarrietteTheSpy]

09:35 PM on 02/09/2011

let's all break the victim mentality. please. yes I know that sometimes takes years, especially getting away from sexualizing ourselves (men and women), and especially in our victim and p0rn addicted culture, but it can be done! peace and love - hts

[djwfutbol]

05:50 PM on 02/09/2011

I know I will be stoned for heresy but who cares? I loved math and did well at it even in college where I took classes only the advanced math majors took (I was a biology major). Even so, since those days, 30 plus years ago, I have never had an occasion to use math for anything. I do not refer to arithmetic which comes up occasionally.

There is much more value in looking good in our society than in solving differential equations. Those who only have their intellect to rely upon are at a major disadvantage to those with nice hair, eyes and curves and, to me, that is how it should be.

[BlueZoo]

04:49 PM on 02/11/2011

You are obviously not a nurse, doctor, accountant, engineer, computer specialist, builder, roofer, painter, carpet installer, patent attorney, pharmacist, paper manufacturer, taxi driver, designer, seamstress, jeweler, dietician, chef, teacher, truck driver, auditor, stock clerk, bank teller, mover, assayer, lab assistant, scientist, astronomer, jeweller, astronaut, stockbroker or in any one of hundreds of other jobs where math is used on a daily basis! It is the most valuable of all the sciences!

[craichead2011]

03:30 AM on 02/12/2011

If you go and find the original study which was conveniently left out of the article you'll see that the difference is 6 out of 12 questions answered correctly vs 5 out of 12 for the "objectified" women. Hardly a result that will keep someone from pursuing a career. Meaningless in fact.

The social sciences are wrought with fraud.

[djwfutbol]

12:22 PM on 02/13/2011

Perhaps I wasn't clear. I don't consider arithmetic to be mathematics. Math doesn't begin until you start dealing with quadratic equations, in my opinion. Your point may hold if we add (ha, ha) in geometry, in the case of the carpet installer. You lost me on painter, stock clerk and stock broker. Do you consider measuring things to be math? I have worked 30 years in IT and never used real math for anything. The computer does the math or my trusty HP calculator.

[Nicole Dixson]

10:11 AM on 02/09/2011

Well, I guess it would explain that after 2+2=4 I literally draw a blank when it comes to the rest of the concepts of mathematics.

[Protocolor]

09:47 AM on 02/09/2011

So, the mere presence of men causes women to become stupid? Or do men's eyeballs beam out a female stupid ray like a comic book super power?

Time to devise some experiments to determine which it is...

[HAlexandria]

11:05 AM on 02/09/2011

Ha Ha Ha, Here's a better experiment that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt men are in fact simpletons that are easily distracted.

I rub myself all over a random undergraduate guy leaving the heavy fragrance I wear in the winter all over him.....then we test his concentration for a few hours...bonus points awarded if the test subject ends up following me around like a puppy.

[wm1066]

12:23 PM on 02/09/2011

This works both ways, if I (as a guy) was in a room with Venessa Williams I wouldn't be able to think either.

[HarrietteTheSpy]

09:38 PM on 02/09/2011

well, because you were choosing not to. if you were mindful of the chemicals running you, you could easily be in charge of yourself. and simply choose another way. one way to do that would be to meditate on her old and withered body as a 100 year old. that's one way to take charge of yourself and detach from physical things like that. peace and love - hts

[Tyler-Durden]

09:18 AM on 02/09/2011

wat an outrageous hed line! i can't believe there trying to blame homos for how bad wimmen do in math.

LOL I'M JOKING! spelling jokes! hahah!

ok seriously though, is this cart-before-horse thinking? as in,

maybe girls in school who get stared at more, develop the belief that they don't need to try as hard in math because their looks will provide more opportunities in life than their brain. so they place their efforts accordingly, following fashion instead of studying. pretty girls get far more doors held open for them than ugly girls. even ugly girls with big brains.

BRAYNZE!!! NOMNOMNOMNOM

sorry, zombie moment.

[HAlexandria]

10:58 AM on 02/09/2011

You theory is about as accurate as the study mentioned in the article, which is equally biased and simplistic from the other direction.

The truth lies in the middle ground between the poles , and is far much more interesting.

[Tyler-Durden]

02:39 PM on 02/09/2011

biased and simplistic? gee, thanx. well; i blame those girls that were staring at me!

i hardly postulated a "theory". i was only joking. for some reason i thought i made that clear. apparently these days, one cannot "dumb it down" enough to include everyone. sorry i missed you.

[luziannagirl]

08:36 AM on 02/09/2011

This is weird, but I totally believe it.

My entire life I've had a math disability, but sometimes, under some conditions hard to create, it has seemed to just evaporate and then I'm actually very good in math.

It seemed to have to do with removal of competition and possible ridicule, whether from male or female sources. If there was any kind of competitive spirit, especially to rush to get an answer, I totally bombed. My brain just shuts down, computation-wise. Even the simplest patterns become like Greek to me. I can't even get the example problem, when the answer is given.

But, if I get really relaxed and in a certain really upbeat, creative, almost playful mood, and view the problem as a sort of piece of art to be assembled on a blank white page, I've been known to really excel, even at algebra.

I need a quiet, non-threatening pace, a sharp pencil, and a nice blank piece of paper to carefully print my figures, and instant feedback on whether it's correct or not. And no audience.

And a really good reason to do this math in the first place!!!!

[dsws]

01:24 PM on 02/09/2011

"creative, almost playful mood"

Good description of what it takes to do math. Some people are at their most playful when they're playing to win, but it's much more common for competition to shut down playfulness. Some people like a blank page to start from, while others are more playful amid clutter. Non-threatening is an absolute requirement, though. No one is playful when they feel threatened.

[theseusofaustralia]

11:41 PM on 02/08/2011

I'm a man, but let me see if i can guess what women want in their perfect guy.
They want a guy as attractive as Brad pitt.
They want a guy as witty as Oscar wilde.
They want a guy as intelligent as Christopher hitchens.
They want a guy as funny as Chris rock.
They want a guy as loyal as Antonio Banderas.
They want a guy as charming as Frank Sinatra.

[luziannagirl]

08:25 AM on 02/09/2011

Don't forget, they want a guy who cooks and cleans, too.

And in my case who will go fishing, hunting, and piddling in the wilderness with me and not be upset when I sometimes out-walk, out-hunt and out-fish him.

We don't want much, do we?!!!!

[mlowe0286]

09:44 AM on 02/09/2011

I do all those things & do the shopping too. So before you think I'm a real catch... what do you look like? LOL.

[Protocolor]

09:39 AM on 02/09/2011

Let's not overlook:
They want a guy as rich and powerful as Donald Trump.

There's nothing like being dominant male in the herd to turn the females of the herd on.

[fem56]

11:23 PM on 02/08/2011

Always the guys fault isn't it. I like that. Maybe I just didn't get oogled enough in math class because I was pretty good at it.

[tobereal]

11:01 PM on 02/08/2011

"The objectifying gaze also increased women’s, but not men’s, motivation to have further interactions with their partner."

How about some help with the above claim?

Who's the "partner," the person doing the "gazing," their romantic partner---it's very confusing. If it is the former, it's saying that the woman wants more interaction with the person subjecting her to the gaze. Seems strange to me.