Monday, February 11, 2013

A Valentine's Day note to amorous undergraduate females

Am re-posting here most of an entry from two years ago.  That was in the context of male students rapidly falling behind their female counterparts, and universities like the one where I teach having a 60/40 split with men in a shrinking minority.  I think it will work in the context of Valentine's Day too :)
The author ends with this postscript of a Note to the amorous undergraduate female reading this
When you scan the campus and realize what your choices are, I know it is tempting to open a vein and slide into a warm bath. But here’s the thing: you may be an average undergraduate female, but there are above-average undergraduate males out there who are nearly your equal. They are out there. It’s just that you outnumber them about 100 to 1. Still, that’s no reason to open a vein and slide into a warm bath.
It is funny, every single time I read it :)

I wonder how I came across to young girls/women when I was in high school/college.  No thanks to me, did a few young ones prefer to bash their heads against the wall than talk to me?  Or, was I so insignificant that I didn't even blip in their radars?

When I was relatively new in my Oregon stint, one bright female student, "K," came to talk with me about her law school plans.  I asked her if she was free enough--without any significant other--to go wherever she wanted to.  Her reply was funny then, and is funny now, but is also a reflection of these gender issues.  "K" replied that she hadn't met anybody even her equal, let alone being better than her, and so it was all the more the reason for her to go far away from this part of the world.  I wonder whether she did find her soul-mate in graduate school.

But then, if men are slacking off, it is the women's fault, especially for misusing their erotic capital!

Valentine's Day greetings in advance to y'all!


2 comments:

Ramesh said...

Ahh. I didn't realize that you lived in a man's paradise - with hundreds of "amorous" females to choose from. Oh; then I wouldn't mind the cold and the wet .... :)

Sriram Khé said...

well, it is a young man's paradise, and my youth was 30 years ago :)

A couple of years ago, the NY Times ran a story on the issues that heterosexual females run into when it comes to the dating scene on college campuses. They talked about the heights of competition for even the average bloke! I asked one class about that during the break, and they were pretty much like "d'oh!"