I hope this exchange helps those who don& #39;t grok the distinction to get it, including Matt. This is one of those areas where social identity really does produce differential experience, and the best way for those who don& #39;t share the identity is to just listen. https://twitter.com/saurabhvashist_/status/1262726315561672707">https://twitter.com/saurabhva...

So, unlike @kroenig , I& #39;m never gonna get a https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌶️" title="Hot pepper" aria-label="Emoji: Hot pepper">on Rate my Professor (didn& #39;t win that genetic lottery!) https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😀" title="Grinning face" aria-label="Emoji: Grinning face">.

But a student in my Western Civ course once described me as having a "Napoleonic Complex" in the course of a positive evaluation (I& #39;m 5& #39;3").

It didn& #39;t bother me – I even found it amusing – but that& #39;s because I have the luxury to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Yes, there& #39;s evidence that male attractiveness is associated with higher earnings, higher estimation, and (in fact) better course evaluations (same with height, tbh)

But this is, I have come to understand, a very different matter than living in en environment that repeatedly sends signals that your value is *primarily* a function of your appearance.

As an able-bodied white male academic I do not live in a society where even positive comments on my appearance are a routine way of asserting dominance.

I do not live in a society where even positive comments on my appearance are a routine way of asserting dominance.

And while I think course evaluations are pretty useless, I don& #39;t open them every year dreading what even students who like my course might say.

/end