This article has got me reflecting a bit on my students. Attractive (female) students might be a pleasure to look at (for me), but if they were airheads they didn’t catch a break on grades – unless they wrote attractive essays, turned their work in on time, and spoke intelligently. I don’t think I’m fooling myself in this conclusion. But I might be willing to be tested. (
I should have added to my previous comment that I tended to be sympathetic to the nerds in my classes. They may not always have paid attention (they had so many things working in their minds) but they weren’t spending their time primming or posing.
Would having a student who wore a burlap/canvas bag or clothing resembling such, hasn’t showered for months, speaks in a non-confident high pitched annoying voice…especially male, and ate foods having strong memorable odors like durians influence your grading in any way if he/she was otherwise turning in A/A+ grades on exams and projects/homework?
It would not affect my grading at all. Perhaps I should mention that I went to a hippy commune type of college (Reed) way back when. People dressed every which-way. But they were all very smart.
And one of my children was and is a nerd – one with a very successful career. He graduated with honors from his college, but he was not hung up at all with getting perfect grades.
How about for not attractive but “kinda cute” people? Lol Or how about for sexy but not good-looking people? Or lastly, how about “attractive but smelly” people?
I’m gonna fail college then 
Attractive but smelly is an oxymoron
Not necessarily.
If someone’s level of attractiveness is above a certain threshold, one can be surprised at how those attracted may be willing to overlook some serious perceivable flaws…including those pertaining to the olfactory senses.
Many neo-hippie women at my LAC had a smell which showed they haven’t showered for months. Didn’t matter…plenty of men were lining up to date/pick them up…including folks from other more mainstream colleges.
Not my thing personally…but seems being smelly wasn’t necessarily an offputting factor for others…including heterosexual men.
too bad I’m fugly
I wanted to smash a grapefruit into the face of one or two babes who were always flirting with male professors after classes. They would put on an act about how lost they were, and about how they really wanted extra help because they loved the subject. It was so obvious to me, yet these middle-age nerds fell for it like love-sick puppy dogs.
I recall a young lady who we were sure was flashing the profs under her desk. She always wore dresses or skirts & sat with her legs apart. I don’t recall her name being on the Dean’s List, though …
IMO…the ones who deserve the smashed grapefruit in face would be the Profs as they are the authority figures and older adults who should know better in that situation. IMO…the ones who are older and/or have the more advanced educational achievement should be held to higher moral/ethical/behavioral standards…
cobrat,
I agree and I could tell the prof was eventually trying to cut them off as other students like me were waiting patiently. But these women were used to getting their own way and they used every asset to their advantage.
Using her “assets” was what got a high school friend her driver’s license, by her own admission.
The thing that the popular press coverage of these types of stories leaves out is that the (very real) effect of physical attractiveness wears off as you get to know the person, and their “task” and “social” attractiveness (would you want to work with them on a project? would you want to have a conversation with them?) ends up being more important.
Which, if true, reflects better on us as human beings.
To me (a fifty-something heterosexual female professor for whom boys in the 18-22 demographic elicit maternal feelings rather than erotic ones), an appealing student of either gender is someone who shows interest in the material, looks at me or the screen/board rather than phone or laptop during lectures, makes eye contact, and engages in the class through discussion. Students who don’t make eye contact, who sit in the back, who don’t talk, and who are apparently unengaged do not make a positive impression. I wonder whether conventional attractiveness/grooming is correlated with ability to participate in social norms of interaction which make others respond positively to you. It wouldn’t surprise me. Again, I don’t know how one scientifically defines attractiveness, which is an elusive concept.
I do find the apparent male resentment of attractive women interesting and somewhat disturbing. Men have historically had all kinds of privileges; only women have had to rely on their ability to be appealing to men in order to advance, but I wouldn’t say that’s necessarily a situation of their own making. “The average woman cares more about her looks than her brains because she knows the average man can see better than he can think.”
Well, I think that men are also socially advantaged as well as disadvantaged in distinct ways which can, and do, affect how they are perceived (at least initially) by other men. Height often confers upon a man a degree of authority or approval that shorter men must “prove”.
But, yes, women have had to be found appealing to men far greater than men have needed to in order to improve their chances in life.
Re #69, #72
So what did they do if the instructor was a straight woman or gay man?
It’s particularly disturbing in this thread with the desire to smash grapefruit in their faces and talking about them “primming” in class. It sounds like something more sinister than worrying about grades being related to attractiveness.
I agree as well, though I think other women are just as guilty of it as men. I wonder how often an attractive woman who is going about the business of getting her education (just like anyone else) is viewed as trying to use her “assets” instead of her brain simply because she is perceived to be attractive.
I’m sure it does happen, but I’m also willing to bet this is projected on more women than are actually guilty of it.
I would just note that some of these–especially making eye contact with an authority figure–are not universally positive across all cultures. I think attractiveness is another cultural cue that might influence all of us more than we suspect.