Study: Women Still Act Less Smart to Attract Men

In defiance of the U of Buffalo study, Darlene Cavalier and the Science Cheerleaders rally future female scientists at the USA Science and Engineering Festival.

From Take Part.com: Study: Women Still Act Less Smart to Attract Men
If researchers at the University of Buffalo are correct, the typical female is skeptical of any male who insists that the most attractive thing about her is her mind. Sexy, brainy women, and the men turned on by them, may wish and believe that the days of ladies hiding their intelligence in deference to the male ego have faded into history, but four new studies say, “No.”

Associate professor of psychology Lora E. Park stands by her teams findings that the goal of “romantic desirability” impels women to downplay interest and aptitude in science, technology, engineering and math (the STEM subjects).

From Science Daily:

Park says, “When the goal to be romantically desirable is activated, even by subtle situational cues, women report less interest in math and science. One reason why this might be is that pursuing intelligence goals in masculine fields, such as STEM, conflicts with pursuing romantic goals associated with traditional romantic scripts and gender norms.”

Bonehead translation: If a woman engages a man’s brain at the STEM level, he won’t have enough smarts left over to keep up with her reading of the romance script.

The studies were partially funded by the National Science Foundation, which was curious (if not desperate) to find out why women, despite marked progress in education and workplace, are still underrepresented at the highest levels of STEM. The results, “Effects of Everyday Romantic Goal Pursuit on Women’s Attitudes Toward Math and Science,” will appear in September’s Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, but don’t jumble up your quadratic equations just because your subscription has lapsed.

A study is all well and good, for the study industry at least, but studies can also be dry exercises in over-explanation that dice the life out of a subject.

If the National Science Foundation truly wants more women representing at the highest STEM levels, maybe it should file the academic findings and try a few sets of high kicks and pom-poms.