Comments on: Male lust at Oxford

By: Marc

Marc — Fri, 19 Mar 2004 16:54:24 +0000

Admissions are generally decided by the subject tutors. Might it be that women are generally better at discussion (important for the interview, a sort of mini-tutorial), men at opinionating (which seems to confer advantage in Finals exams)?

By: dave heasman

dave heasman — Fri, 19 Mar 2004 15:31:51 +0000

It’s nice to know that Cholly Halsey is still alive. The Telegraph has its uses.

By: Dave F

Dave F — Fri, 19 Mar 2004 09:00:13 +0000

I believe the correct template for lust-inducing privileged social background is Paris Hilton.

By: Dave F

Dave F — Fri, 19 Mar 2004 08:59:56 +0000

I believe the correct template for lust-inducing privileged social background is Paris Hilton.

By: nick

nick — Fri, 19 Mar 2004 00:15:02 +0000

I believe that it's the college tutors and not the tutor for admissions who have the final say on those who get offers after interview. And tutors do tend to have particular preferences: one tutor who'd participated in the selection process at two colleges said that there was an identifiable if unquantifiable difference between those picked to read English at each college. Anecdotally, though, it was always amusing to see the new crop of Geography undergraduates each October. The cliché of the 'pretty blonde geographer' and its association with a particular tutor's preferences appeared to have a certain basis in fact. Then how do you explain Posh Spice? I'm always reminded of the comment made by the late Anthony Powell: 'Posh? Like fuck she is.'

By: mark

mark — Thu, 18 Mar 2004 22:48:51 +0000

Actually, as an American student spending the year at Cambridge, it seems like the gay community is somewhat more low-profile here than at home…

By: Tom Runnacles

Tom Runnacles — Thu, 18 Mar 2004 21:42:39 +0000

Kieran, please, that’s Cambridge. Mostly.

By: Kieran Healy

Kieran Healy — Thu, 18 Mar 2004 21:40:23 +0000

When I read the headline to this post, I assumed that it was lust for other males that was at issue, given that it was Oxford and all.

By: Matt Weiner

Matt Weiner — Thu, 18 Mar 2004 17:23:09 +0000

Ah. Here AA is common, as you probably know; I doubt that gender-based affirmative action is required at the undergraduate level for any institution, but at the graduate level (when people are applying to specific programs, which does not happen for undergrads) it does take place.

By: Nasi Lemak

Nasi Lemak — Thu, 18 Mar 2004 17:07:00 +0000

Affirmative action is absolutely forbidden on grounds of race, gender, or disability, or so we are told. It may be permitted on grounds of social background but is controversial (and the admissions process does not provide any very good way to access information about applicants’ social background in any case). However the government sets per-institution targets for access on the basis of social background and will soon do rather more along those lines.

By: Matt Weiner

Matt Weiner — Thu, 18 Mar 2004 16:39:08 +0000

Reading the article, it seems that women with high grades are admitted at greater rates to programs in which women are historically underrepresented, not to ones in which they aren’t. Is it possible that this is simply affirmative action rather than male lust? I don’t know how this debate shapes up in the UK.

By: Nasi Lemak

Nasi Lemak — Thu, 18 Mar 2004 15:55:22 +0000

I thought the whole point was that Ginger Spice wasn’t really ginger, etc etc.

By: Matt Weiner

Matt Weiner — Thu, 18 Mar 2004 15:44:21 +0000

I can’t quite see why one would feel more lust for women educated in the private sector. (“phwoar, look at the privileged social background on that”). Then how do you explain Posh Spice?

By: Nasi Lemak

Nasi Lemak — Thu, 18 Mar 2004 15:17:26 +0000

i) I can’t quite see why one would feel more lust for women educated in the private sector. (“phwoar, look at the privileged social background on that”). Also would be interested to see Halsey et al do some work on gay admissions tutors, to back up their remarks a bit. ii) My plans for a swimsuit round keep getting rejected for so-called “legal” reasons. iii) My own experience (because I teach only in joint subjects so have to argue with a lot of other people over admissions decisions) is that I’m usually allied with senior women colleagues against ageing hippie male colleagues. I don’t want to get into what Halsey thinks that would imply. iv) The serious background to this is that I’m pretty certain there would be a gender bias against men even if admissions were done just on the basis of gender-blind marking of UCAS forms. Women (averagely) seem to me to do better at the whole process – to write better personal statements, to get better references, to hand in better written work, for academic-driven senses of “better”. I sense there is some sort of social deskilling of young men behind that, and that this wasn’t true at some point in the past, but I’ve only been doing Oxbridge admissions for six or seven years so it’s just handwaving at that point.