I had a pretty immediate negative reaction when I just read about the room described. Now, I'm trying to figure out why I had this reaction.
I think the room communicates an environment of obsessive and messy people, and that really isn't the kind of people I'd like to be around. I would have felt better if it wasn't just Star Trek, but various posters of stereotypically nerdy things. If it had been all posters of Harry Potter, I'd still feel uncomfortable. Also, a life-size bust? Really? I would think a life-size bust of anything to be weird, even if it was Zachary Quinto or George Washington.
A messy environment does make me uncomfortable. (Does it not make you uncomfortable?) The article described a mess of discarded computer parts. At a past company that I worked for, I got to visit the IT room, which had neat piles of spare computer parts organized in the middle of the floor. Although I did think it was weird that the stuff was just lying on the floor, I did have to resist an urge to crawl along the floor and check out everything (I totally would've done it if the HR people weren't watching me). If it had been a disorganized pile of discards, I wouldn't have given it a second glance.
> My guess is that women feel like they are biologically different than men
Um yes. I do feel that I am biologically different than men.
> and geek paraphernalia is seen as a signal that the environment will be dominated by men who don't understand women
Hmm, I think the closest place of "geek paraphernalia" that I've been exposed to is my school's linux lounge. The place has a bunch of working computers and some old computers to be stripped for parts, bookcases of CS textbooks, posters of the Linux penguin, signs made of the reflective side of compact discs, but there's nothing about this environment that turns me off. If the room had instead been covered with something I had zero interest in (like Star Trek) then yes, I would be a little put off.
A messy environment does make me uncomfortable. (Does it not make you uncomfortable?)
A messy environment does not make me uncomfortable.
I wonder how much people’s dislike for disorder relates to the amount of time they look for things. It seems like the people that keep the most ordered desks spend the most time looking for things. However, I rarely need to find physical stuff in my environment so it's just not that important to me.
My room only looks disorganized and messy. Its actually highly optimized. My clothes stay on one pile on one end of the room. Naturally, they are piled in the order i took them off, so its easy to put them back on, its a stack. My desk doesn't have any junk on it, but the area around my immediate workspace is full with stuff. I have a lot of empty soft drink bottles, flattened and put in bags, all the leftover food and trash i have is in bags, on a separate pile, which i trow away when it gets too big, or starts to smell. There are NO objects on the floor, because i like to walk around my room and think. The environment looks unwelcoming, dirty and messy, but its effective. I know where everything is, and everything is either where it has to be, or is thrown relatively near the place it has to be. Holly shit, my room is like software.
"A messy environment does make me uncomfortable. (Does it not make you uncomfortable?)"
Nope. That's an established difference between men and women. I suspect it's because for men are on average better at using the part of the brain that processes abstract patterns, and worse at using the part of their brain that processes sensory data and emotion. So the mess is more salient for women and thus drains more cognitive cycles.
Also, I suspect people of both sexes getting better at using the other part of their brain as they get older. So it would possibly bother older men more, or possibly older women less. Just another one of my crazy theories though. :-)
I think the room communicates an environment of obsessive and messy people, and that really isn't the kind of people I'd like to be around. I would have felt better if it wasn't just Star Trek, but various posters of stereotypically nerdy things. If it had been all posters of Harry Potter, I'd still feel uncomfortable. Also, a life-size bust? Really? I would think a life-size bust of anything to be weird, even if it was Zachary Quinto or George Washington.
A messy environment does make me uncomfortable. (Does it not make you uncomfortable?) The article described a mess of discarded computer parts. At a past company that I worked for, I got to visit the IT room, which had neat piles of spare computer parts organized in the middle of the floor. Although I did think it was weird that the stuff was just lying on the floor, I did have to resist an urge to crawl along the floor and check out everything (I totally would've done it if the HR people weren't watching me). If it had been a disorganized pile of discards, I wouldn't have given it a second glance.
> My guess is that women feel like they are biologically different than men
Um yes. I do feel that I am biologically different than men.
> and geek paraphernalia is seen as a signal that the environment will be dominated by men who don't understand women
Hmm, I think the closest place of "geek paraphernalia" that I've been exposed to is my school's linux lounge. The place has a bunch of working computers and some old computers to be stripped for parts, bookcases of CS textbooks, posters of the Linux penguin, signs made of the reflective side of compact discs, but there's nothing about this environment that turns me off. If the room had instead been covered with something I had zero interest in (like Star Trek) then yes, I would be a little put off.