

Female strangers get better response rates when e-mailing professors - andreyf
http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2010/04/a_not_very_happy_observation_a.html

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alexgartrell
So I've TA'ed for a little while now and I think the answer isn't anything
fundamental how women are regarded or how man are being biased against.

Men rarely, if ever, act as grateful as women when you help them. There's a
long list of potential reasons for this, but I've found it nearly universally
to be the case.

Even though it's not politically correct, you're more likely to help the
person who will thank you sincerely for the help as opposed to the guy who
feels like you owe it to him (also often the case).

~~~
gaius
By "act grateful" you mean, she will (deliberately) mimic the signals that she
finds you attractive, making you momentarily feel good about yourself. It's
the same as when the pretty waitress flirts with you. She flirts with
everyone, and gets good tips.

A man will simply say "cheers" and buy you a pint. What do you expect him to
do?

~~~
alexgartrell
Actually, I mean that she will say "Thank you so much!" on the way out of the
door.

If I was going to TA to get hit on, I would probably TA something besides
Introduction to Computer Systems. The girls I've dated tend to be more
attractive than the girls who show up at office hours, and I'm deliberately
cold to women who hit on me at office hours because it's insulting (and I'm
kind of a dick).

And if ever there was a student who bought me a beer, s/he would be the first
one to get help at office hours without a doubt. The problem is that the men
tend to interrupt other students getting help, call for my attention across
the room while I'm busy with something else, and just act with a general sense
of entitled arrogance.

------
jpwagner
corollary: female strangers get better [any form of communication] response
rates from [anybody]

~~~
jrockway
Try it on IRC sometime. You'll find that within seconds, pretending to be a
girl is instantly advantageous. Just don't overdo it.

~~~
wallflower
iDog

<http://www.unc.edu/depts/jomc/academics/dri/idog.html>

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teilo
It is just as likely that female professors are more likely to respond to
female questions because they expect that females are more likely than males
to listen to the answer. Why do we have to jump right to a presumption of
negative sexual bias?

~~~
rguzman
Isn't expecting that females to be more likely to listen than males a negative
sexual bias?

~~~
pyre
I think the point GP was trying to make is that this isn't necessarily a case
of male professors being nice to women just because they are attracted to them
(or assume that they might be attractive) and that there is a possibility of
sex. (or something to that effect)

It's still 'sexism' if a professor responds better to female students than
male students because he perceives female students as being more receptive and
grateful for the help. But not necessarily in a negative "I'm hoping to get
laid" sort of way.

~~~
smallblacksun
So it's okay to be sexist if you aren't doing it because you're attracted to
the person?

~~~
teilo
Sexism != reacting to the sexes differently. Men and women are not the same,
and therefore they evoke different responses and reactions. This is not
sexism.

~~~
natrius
That's exactly what sexism is. It's not always necessarily a bad thing.

~~~
teilo
No, it is not. Sexism, like racism, never has a positive or neutral
connotation in any context in which I have ever heard it used. A black man is
not intrinsically different than a white man. Therefore, to treat him such is
racist, period. A woman is, however, intrinsically different than a man. To
denigrate her because she is a women is sexism. To treat her as if she were a
man and refuse to acknowledge her as a woman is, arguably, _also_ sexism. On
the contrary, merely to react differently to her, but not negatively, is not
sexism.

~~~
natrius
I find that separating connotations from the core meanings of words leads to
clearer arguments. In your position, if someone calls you sexist and you deny
that, it's not clear if you're denying treating someone differently based on
their sex or if you just don't think you're _mis_ treating the person. My
stance is more likely to lead to a response of, "Yes, I'm being sexist, but
not in a wrong way."

We generally agree.

------
leif
My first interpretation of this data is that professors are trying to
encourage young women to get interested in their field, and therefore
subconsciously giving them more resources, but that is probably because there
are so few women in the fields I study. It would be nice to know what areas of
research contained the studied professors, but I don't want to read all those
comments.

Also, a sample size of several dozen? That doesn't sound like a lot to me.

~~~
jongraehl
Several dozen is plenty if the effect is strong. He claims it is.

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growingconcern
In other interesting news: kids like candy.

~~~
pyre
Contrary to popular belief though, babies much prefer milk (breast or formula)
to candy. So finding a baby with candy to 'take' may prove to be a difficult
proposition (for varying definitions of 'baby', I suppose).

~~~
klipt
Candy in the possession of a baby is also likely to be covered in drool.
Considering its inexpensiveness, why not just buy candy?

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dirkstoop
Maybe she (he?) has stumbled upon the single most important mechanism by which
any single gender dominated industry self-compensates.

(I'm assuming here that - since the author emailed mostly males - this field
is predominantly male; I have no facts to back up that assumption)

Would love to see a similar study into replies to emails from male/female
aliases to professionals in a predominantly female field.

~~~
leif
I've been reading this blog (really, letting it pile up in google reader) for
some time now, and though I can't point you to a specific post, I'm pretty
sure I remember the author being a he.

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__bjoernd
The post's comments describe a row of useful explanations for these facts
apart from sexual focus.

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fauigerzigerk
If you combine that with the proportion of females in high level academic jobs
you get a pretty clear picture: Females are encouraged to ask experts for help
whilst somehow being discouraged from becoming experts themselves.

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mnemonicfx
For females, don't get too excited.

If you're pretty, sexy, and all that, they will continue to respond you, and
supported you in every endeavor. But, if you're not pretty, you would be
judged only by your appearance. Not your brain.

~~~
jamesbritt
Really? Everyone?

Can you back up this gigantic generalization, or is this simply rampant
cynicism?

I know people of both sexes who judge people on appearances, but most folks
I've dealt with don't let that get in the way.

~~~
mnemonicfx
Isn't that the point of this article?

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eplanit
And this is a surprise to anyone?

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suckafree
Of course male professors answer females at a higher response rate. Those in
the academia world rarely have hot wives. Professors get married later in life
(this has to do with them having no lives outside of the lab). They then have
to settle for less than what they want so they marry an intelligent woman who
is in that 4-6.5 range on a scale from 1-10. And when young melissamiller
comes emailing, she serves as a welcome distraction to grading papers. Stop
making this out to be a big deal.

~~~
jrockway
You have broken the record for most unfounded generalizations in one
paragraph.

~~~
suckafree
Just because I don't have fancy science to back it up doesn't mean it's not
true.

~~~
jrockway
So what about the female professors. Did they settle for a 4.5 wife too?

