The Ins, Outs, Hows, and Whys of Conference Sex

[Flaxen Hegemony]

Glad to know my son's tuition isn't being spent on something silly...

Bwahahahahahahahahaha!   

Look at it this way.  All the professors get their stress out at the conference and don't inflict it on your son's grades.     

At least in the academic case, you figure they are all somewhere far from home without the spouse or SO, with a built in excuse to be there, surrounded by younger people bored out of their skulls for three days.  I'm not married, and I don't poach (on purpose at least - once by accident), but you'd think these conferences were amateur magic shows with the number of wedding rings suddenly vanishing.

[Flaxen Hegemony]

That's it. I'm going back for my PHD. Do you suppose the same is true for paranormal and UFO conferences ?

Go for it!  Grad school is a fuck-fest too, but that's an entirely different thread!

I've been to about 40-50 academic conferences, and would say the critical factors are gender ratio and variance in looks.  The closer to an even 50/50 men to women, obviously things get more interesting.  Also the more even range of attractiveness, the more people are going to hook up, because more people can find someone at or slightly above their level.  Once alcohol enters the mix, that goes out the window.  That's why I never drink at conferences.  Never had one of those "wake up next to...uhm" moments, and don't plan on it.  Gotta keep swinging at fast pitches.

Others who have attended UFO/para conferences can probably chime in with more information, but I'd think that they have different gender ratios.  Would UFOs attract men , and paranormal stuff (along the lines of ghosts) attract women?  I have no idea. 

I did attend one comic/fan conference, and it was a sausage factory.  Not only that, but the looks variance is way up there.  You have some extremely attractive women dressing up in skimpy costumes (I'm not really from that scene - are these comic or cartoon characters?).  But they usually have their own dense social circles that take too much effort to join.  I did a little recon, managed to talk to one woman about something other than the comic stuff, but there was too much static from her circle. 

[Flaxen Hegemony]

I think for UFO conferences, it's more true. With academic conferences, half of the nerds don't realize it is happening. With paranormal, more of them are there to get it in. That's my guess.

Don't realize it is happening?  Well, maybe at engineering conferences, dear.

I'm trying to imagine what I would do or say at a paranormal or UFO conference, as I'm not up to speed on what they talk about.  Just find the most attractive alien abductee, be charming, and nod a lot, I guess.

[stevesh]

I'd guess that the 'harder' (no pun intended) subjects like UFO crash retrieval, draw a lot more men than women, and the 'consciousness' conferences draw more women. I wonder if you could draw any conclusions based on the sex ratio of C2C callers when the guest is discussing a particular topic ?

[11angeleyes11]

Actually, quite a few women attend ufo conferences. I have attended and do attend my share of them. My motivation for going is the intellectual stimulation and the social interaction with people who are interested in the subject.   One of my real life professions does not endeavor itself to my interest in this area. 

I will make a hypothesis on the issue of conference sex in general, the longer the conference, the more dishelved people appear at the next session.  In 2010, I attended the week long UFO Conference in Laughlin and found that to be the case.  Also, each conference has its own buzz or TMZ version.  I was surprised to find the people I met who were single, and the next time I saw them their left ring finger was adorned with a gold band. In their present life, at the next conference as a presenter, they were exclaming the virtues of the married life and pictures of their children were being passed around.  In the past life, at the last conference, they were seen leaving with some other attendee that evening and missing the bus to the plane choosing to leave with their "date" in her vehicle.

I'm single, so although I may socialize, I draw the line.  You can be friendly, but also respect limits.   

[EastCoastLady]

I will make a hypothesis on the issue of conference sex in general, the longer the conference, the more dishelved people appear at the next session.  In 2010, I attended the week long UFO Conference in Laughlin and found that to be the case.
   

Interesting observation!  I can see that being a likely scenario.

I giggled when I read the title of this topic!

[Flaxen Hegemony]

I'm single, so although I may socialize, I draw the line.  You can be friendly, but also respect limits.   

I'm single and socialize at conferences, too. If two people's limits both extend to the other person, then I say, respect away! 

Interesting comments on UFO conferences.  Actually, I bet that UFO/paranormal attendees are MORE serious than people at academic conferences, because they are probably paying their own way.

Like I said in a previous post, I don't poach, but one time learned that someone was married after it was too late.  I wasn't happy about it, because the person basically pulled the rug out from under my ethics.  She thought it was no big deal.  I'm no prude, but it still bothered me a little for the rest of the conference.

A funnier story is the time I nearly set a conference record among our group for earliest pick up -- on the plane ride in.  It was dumb luck that a woman from a nearby university happened to be seated next to me.  The conference was in San Diego, so I had a good 3 hour plane ride to work some magic.  Standard chat up, shared a cab ride to the con hotel, etc.  Then when we get there, two buddies wanted to go out to dinner.  I forgot that I had promised them before the con that we'd have dinner the first night, and I see these old friends only once every few years.  The three of them stood there -- two good friends and this perfect creature I met on the plane.  And my fateful decision, that I will regret as long as I live, was to choose dinner with the friends.  Everyone's reaction was priceless: the two guys raised their eyebrows a bit, and the woman said nothing, but gave me this look like "you've got to be fucking kidding me".  I told her sorry and then suffered an hour of mockery from my two so-called friends, who said if they were me, they'd be banging her like a drum and not eating dinner with boring old friends.

The funniest part of the story is the footnote.  At the airport returning from the conference, guess who was sitting a row over in the concourse..  I met her gaze with a friendly smile, thinking "recovery? recovery?" but all I got in return was a blank look that again said "you've got to be fucking kidding me".    A few months later, she posted a question on an academic LISTSERV, and I just had to reply "You asked that question?  You've got to be fucking kidding me."  At least I got a smiley back for that one.

[Flaxen Hegemony]

I'm single, so although I may socialize, I draw the line.  You can be friendly, but also respect limits.   

Oh, and btw, helloooo there angeleyes.  Did I mention I am a former astronaut?  Yeah, yeah, that's it.   

[Treading Water]

Must be the aspertame.  That Diet Coke really burns when it flies out your nose!!            Bwahahahahahahaha.

[11angeleyes11]

Oh, and btw, helloooo there angeleyes.  Did I mention I am a former astronaut?  Yeah, yeah, that's it.   

Interesting!  Is that an astonaut like Edgar Mitchell and Apollo or Richard Hoagland of the Enterprise Mission or an Ancient Astronaut?  It really affects the conferences you attend.

[Flaxen Hegemony]

Interesting!  Is that an astonaut like Edgar Mitchell and Apollo or Richard Hoagland of the Enterprise Mission or an Ancient Astronaut?  It really affects the conferences you attend.

Egads, a choice of three?  If this was a UFO conference, I'd read your mannerisms and try to guess which one would get you in the sack quickest. 

[Flaxen Hegemony]

I'd guess that the 'harder' (no pun intended) subjects like UFO crash retrieval, draw a lot more men than women, and the 'consciousness' conferences draw more women. I wonder if you could draw any conclusions based on the sex ratio of C2C callers when the guest is discussing a particular topic ?

That would be interesting, and if the call selection was unbiased, would give a rough idea of what topics appeal to men and women.  Call screening muddies things a bit, though. 

Back to your point, though, the vast range of UFO and paranormal topics all involve the unknown, and I wonder if it comes down to a "person" vs "thing" distinction.  Men are more interested in "things" that are unknown, like crashed UFO's, the origin of mysterious artifacts, etc., whereas women might prefer spiritual or ghost phenomena, as they involve people.  Of course, there are no firm rules either way. 

[Avi]

If you don't want to be bothered, hire a large group of noisy children. You may rent all five of mine for room and board, plus internet. Before you protest in that faux male-boasting, BS kind of way, "B-b-but of course, I want to be bothered, heh-heh," haul your old, jowly self, with your fat, hairy ass (ooh, la, la) over to the debunking thread where I discuss baggage flings.

[Flaxen Hegemony]

If you don't want to be bothered, hire a large group of noisy children. You may rent all five of mine for room and board, plus internet. Before you protest in that faux male-boasting, BS kind of way, "B-b-but of course, I want to be bothered, heh-heh," haul your old, jowly self, with your fat, hairy ass (ooh, la, la) over to the debunking thread where I discuss baggage flings.

I resent that remark, Avi.  I'm not fat, jowly, or hairy.  However, I am old. 

[11angeleyes11]

Egads, a choice of three?  If this was a UFO conference, I'd read your mannerisms and try to guess which one would get you in the sack quickest. 

None of the above would be worthy of a sack, but an occassional alien has met with a good conversational experience.  Of course, for follow-up it would have to be other worldly.  No Reptillians allowed, but hosts can be good specimans.!

[Flaxen Hegemony]

None of the above would be worthy of a sack, but an occassional alien has met with a good conversational experience.  Of course, for follow-up it would have to be other worldly.  No Reptillians allowed, but hosts can be good specimans.!

You're on.  Scrabble.  Best of 37 series. 

[Avi]

I resent that remark, Avi.  I'm not fat, jowly, or hairy.  However, I am old. 

Now, don't be so touchy! I wasn't referring to you specifically, but to the myriad jowly, fat and hairy-assed who populate the online world. If you don't resemble the remark, there's no need to resent it...begosh.

[Flaxen Hegemony]

Now, don't be so touchy! I wasn't referring to you specifically, but to the myriad jowly, fat and hairy-assed who populate the online world. If you don't resemble the remark, there's no need to resent it...begosh.

Sorry, I haven't checked this thread in several days.  I actually didn't resent a thing, Avi, hence the smiley at the end.