Hacker News Reader

Comment by karamazov | Hacker News Reader

Actually, there are studies[1] showing the opposite: it's difficult for men to think straight when around attractive women.

[1] for example: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103109...

View on HN

That's equivalent to citing studies showing that women are indeed weaker when it comes to math or computer programming.

The counter argument then is that it is because of society that they are weaker. The same could be argued here: it is because of society's conditioning of men that they can't think straight when around attractive women.

There are differences between males and females in pretty much every species on earth, I don't think you can ascribe "society" to every gender. As a man, natural instincts to flirt with the attractive women can get you a sexual harassment charge - when women do it to attractive men it's fine with everyone. Some part of the man's brain is going towards stopping his natural instincts which can lower work performance.

I think you are mistaken to think that being a man, in itself, is what causes flirting behavior to be hit with a sexual harassment complaint. The greater factor is that the man in the equation is likely to be the one in power, and thus the woman has a reason to feel threatened if she rebuffs him.

To be fair, that's quite subtle. Power relationships are often invisible and masquerading as something "light." It's easier to understand if you've been on the short end of the stick a bunch of times.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com