I Guess Girls Just Don't Find Science That Sexy

When Looking for Love, Women Spurn Science

Finding romantic love can be a distracting goal for anyone, but for women thoughts of romantic goals are particularly distracting from science, technology, engineering and math, new research suggests.

These typically masculine disciplines are thought of as particularly non-feminine, and women unconsciously dissociate themselves from STEM activities like college courses and majors when they need to be feminine, the researchers said.

I haven't really noticed a lack of women in science lately, but then, I strongly suspect that environmental science attracts more women than many other fields.  I would estimate that among interns these days, two thirds or more are women, and in most undergraduate programs women easily out number the men.

But now we're going to blame it on their upbringing, rather than as a rational choice of what career and in what field to pursue.  Afterall, women are just too emotional to make rational decisions...

"It says a lot about the influences of the environment that women grow up in. They are socialized and receive messages that being sexy and attractive is very important," study researcher Lora Park, at the University of Buffalo, told LiveScience. "We find that exposure to these [romantic] cues, even if they are very subtle, can affect their decision to major in these fields."

When the women were trying to be more desirable, they engaged in more romantic activities and fewer math activities; this even extended to the next days' activities. It didn't make a difference if the women were in steady relationships or were single.

As we all know, time is an infinite resource, women don't have to choose between dating or homework, and I know from personal experience that men are never distracted from school or their career or sex. /sarc off

The findings are published in the September 2011 issue of the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.