sexy math

So last night I met the hottest mathematician. He was a guest speaker in this teaching seminar I have to take. He looked like he couldn't have been more than thirty, but he's already hopped around to a few universities as a professor and won several teaching awards. He wasn't there to lecture on math--though, if my math teachers looked like that I would probably be a mathematician too. Not that my history teachers were particularly attractive, but you know, a little encouragement never hurt anyone.

So he's young, he's obviously brilliant, he's personable, and he can dress. Maybe he's gay. I don't know, the gaydar could go either way. It doesn't matter. You can't make advances toward faculty members, even if they're in unrelated fields.

This leads to a confession I feel compelled to make in light of this. I find mathematicians and scientists secretly sexy as hell. Maybe it's because as a kid I wanted to be one, and I could have easily gone down that path if I hadn't found people and stories so much more compelling. (Who knows what the real reason is for my diversion into the humanities, but it wasn't for lack of ability.) But there's also this association I have with geeky science men, intense brilliance, and a general quirkiness I find attractive. These are complete stereotypes, but well, we all have our types (in stereo or not). Then it's also a bit of an opposites factor. I'm an absolute humanist, postmodern to the core, and fundamentally question the scientific method (mostly on the basis of its presumed objectivity when in fact there is no such thing). So if I could snag a scientist it's like a bit of a coup. Hell, conservatives and god forbid libertarians are drawn to me like a moth to a flame (probably because they think they can convert me...go do missionary work elsewhere, thank you!). I don't want to destroy the scientist. But I have this fantasy that he's progressive as hell, knows what he's doing isn't objective, and just gets it. Hopefully he's got some social skills too. Plus, while it's attractive to partner with someone with similar ideals, goals, etc., do you really want a companion that would be a competitor in your field or profession? Think of the cool books and articles you could author together, but also think of the nasty competitor it could breed. Though you could fight and have make up sex...