SUBSCRIBE NOW WELCOME BACK. Do you want to continue reading where you left off? New Republic subscribers can pick up where they left off no matter which device they were previously using. SUBSCRIBE NOW

Go Home Scientists Tortured College Males

JONATHAN CHAIT MARCH 1, 2011

Scientists Tortured College Males

BY JONATHAN CHAIT

This makes me really glad I didn't enroll in college until 1990:

IN A COLLEGE CAMPUS STUDY in 1989, physically attractive people approached opposite-sex students and asked, “Would you go to bed with me tonight?” Not a single woman said yes, but seventy-five percent of men accepted the invitation. 

The only way my college romantic life could have been any more painful would be if, at some point, an attractive woman randomly propositioned me, and then informed me that it was just an experiment to see if I'd say yes.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

Show all 18 comments

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

18 comments

I am profoundly glad that you escaped that hell, Jonathan.

- liberalref

March 1, 2011 at 12:02pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Only 75% of the men said yes? Seriously???

- Tristan

March 1, 2011 at 12:09pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Because.. the other 25% were gay? Seems high. Maybe 5% were gay, 10% were fundamentalist Christian, 10% were concerned about disease.

- AllanL5

March 1, 2011 at 12:14pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

How the hell did that past an IRB review? Maybe the study was not really about whether people would say they would sleep with an attractive person, but rather whether the researchers could get some schmuck to randomly proposition a stranger!

- hepneck

March 1, 2011 at 12:24pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Fundamentalist Christian is not a disqualifier for a yes (trust me). Maybe 10% were standing with their current girlfriend, or someone who would tell their current girlfriend. Or 20%! A bird in the hand...

- ReganaD

March 1, 2011 at 12:25pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

At least 5% of those who said "No" said so because they thought it was a trick to steal their kidneys.

- Attrill

March 1, 2011 at 12:30pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

No one seems to have considered that a substantial slab of males might have been skeptical, along the lines of "if something is too good to be true, then it probably isn't true."

- liberalref

March 1, 2011 at 12:59pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

No doubt in my mind I would have said no. Maybe it's because, as a nerd, I had a childhood of getting made fun of, and my mind would have been convinced that somehow, someway, it was a joke on me. Or some type of scam. Or she was after my kidneys. Or just a general, "If it's too good to be true, it must be" trepidation. Maybe I would have said, "No, but let's have a few drinks," as a way to give me time to further evaluate the situation. (Call me old-fashioned, but I do believe you should at least have a few drinks with someone before going to bed with them.) Need more context about the query. Was it, "Do you want to have sex with me right now?" or "Would you be willing to go to bed with me? I'm doing a poll."

- ulexamp

March 1, 2011 at 1:07pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with most conclusions here. To libref, I think most would still say yes, employing the still-functioning higher reasoning centers of their brain to conclude that, worst-case scenario, they end up sexless for the night anyway. Allan, Regana is half right... being a fundamentalist Christian ain't gonna stop a college male (and as far as I've seen isn't going to act as much more than a speedbump for an older-than-college male, but that's a blog for another time) but having a girlfriend is in no way going to stop them either. And Atrill, even if the women in question came right out said that, the male in question would be on his iphone googling "can I really live with just one kidney?" on the way to her dorm.

- Tristan

March 1, 2011 at 1:07pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Given the social codes governing sexual propositions (even on "wild" college campuses), abrupt solicitations by attractive young women are pretty unusual. I suppose a certain percentage of these young men were so stunned that they just stood there slack-jawed, then wiggled their index fingers in their ears, and by the time they recovered, the girl was already busy with her clipboard and walking away. "Uh, heh.... Um, Yeah! Excuse me! I meant to say Yeah!... (damn....)"

- rmutt

March 1, 2011 at 1:11pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Wow, that's all it is? When I first read that headline I thought it was an article about my grad school adviser.

- gwcross

March 1, 2011 at 1:35pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Where I went to college a young woman convinced an awkward looking and somewhat sadly situated but studious young man that he needn't spend every day studying in the library and he ought to at least go out and have some fun on the weekends. She rejected his request for a date.

- Nusholtz

March 1, 2011 at 2:06pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

I think that you are on to something, rm.

- liberalref

March 1, 2011 at 2:39pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Did they ask the question before or after the targets were drunk? I think you would get a different percentage response from both genders if asked in the context in which most college students make such conversation.

- danbd

March 1, 2011 at 3:49pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

When I was at college (some time ago), most guys would have needed a few drinks before going to bed with someone. It's a wonder that they didn't set up a more realistic experiment. In fact, now I wonder what the take-up rate would have been if the question had in fact been, "Hello, would you like to go for a couple of drinks with me?"

- ironyroad

March 1, 2011 at 3:58pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

I'd have immediately asked for clarification. Bed? Sure. Sleep, NO!

- Bukharin

March 1, 2011 at 4:47pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Zero women said yes? How do you explain Hawkeye Pierce's old friend, then? – Did l ever tell you about my friend, Me Lay Marston? – Oh, yeah. Your friend who would go around saying ”Me lay, you lay” to the girls. – He’d score once out of 50 times. Yeah, you told me about him.

- scorn

March 1, 2011 at 6:11pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Wait, this DIDN'T happen to folks in college? I feel like this pretty much sums up my undergrad career.

- miceelf

March 2, 2011 at 11:35am

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

SHARE HIGHLIGHT

0 CHARACTERS SELECTED

TWEET THIS

POST TO TUMBLR

SHARE ON FACEBOOK

Close