# Guys: Amy Farrah Fowler - sexy or not? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 2, 2015, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788 "2015-01-02T18:31:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/61 "2015-01-04T19:03:51Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Penny has bigger boobs than Bernie? :eek: I don’t think so. > > Anyway, this is a problem??? 😕 I like smaller ones. That would be a “disadvantage” for Rauch (as if she’d care what I think) if not for her great Praxitalean face. Cuoco has not such a face. ETA: Anyway, my point was that merely finding one woman more attractive than another does not in itself make a man sexist. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/62 "2015-01-04T19:32:06Z")
She’s at least an order of magnitude more attractive as a woman than John Galecki or Jim Parsons are attractive as men. I feel confused by guys who say women are unattractive unless they’re swimsuit or lingerie models… that’s an unrealistically high bar to set, even for actors & actresses. She’s lovely. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/63 "2015-01-04T20:37:14Z")
_The Big Bang Theory_, like nearly all American TV shows, is a male wish-fulfillment fantasy. The women are nearly always better-looking (compared with other females) than the men (compared with other males) that they are matched up with. This is why so many American men have wildly unrealistic beliefs about what women would be interested in them. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/64 "2015-01-04T21:10:46Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > _The Big Bang Theory_, like nearly all American TV shows, is a male wish-fulfillment fantasy. The women are nearly always better-looking (compared with other females) than the men (compared with other males) that they are matched up with. This is why so many American men have wildly unrealistic beliefs about what women would be interested in them. I’m not sure I entirely agree with that. How many of us wish to have an extremely annoying roommate and to pine for years over our hot neighbor? If it was true wish fulfillment, the male characters would all be well-hung billionaires with wings. Which is not to say that there isn’t a disparity between the attractiveness of the sexes, but if there is I think it has more to do with behind-the-camera reasons than in-story (e.g. wish fulfillment) ones. When people are casting a show, they pick actors that they think people will tune in to watch; that often means funny guys and hot women. The women may be unrealistically hot, but I wouldn’t say whether TV is the cause of that or just an effect. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/65 "2015-01-04T21:17:45Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > She’s at least an order of magnitude more attractive as a woman than John Galecki or Jim Parsons are attractive as men. I feel confused by guys who say women are unattractive unless they’re swimsuit or lingerie models… that’s an unrealistically high bar to set, even for actors & actresses. She’s lovely. There’s a lot of middle ground between lingerie model and Amy Farrah Fowler. A whole lot. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/66 "2015-01-04T22:03:30Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > _The Big Bang Theory_, like nearly all American TV shows, is a male wish-fulfillment fantasy. The women are nearly always better-looking (compared with other females) than the men (compared with other males) that they are matched up with. This is why so many American men have wildly unrealistic beliefs about what women would be interested in them. Well no one wants to watch ugly people. Also, it is far more common in the real world to see an attractive woman with an unattractive man than the other way around, in my opinion. Good-looking men typically do not date uggo’s as we are far more visually-oriented. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/67 "2015-01-04T23:23:53Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > sexist garbage. Given the premise of the thread, I’m not sure why you singled out this post. If you find that premise offensive, I recommend that you not read the thread. **twickster** , Cafe Society moderator ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/68 "2015-01-04T23:53:01Z")
Stringbean writes: \> Well no one wants to watch ugly people. And yet there have been some lead male actors of no more than average looks. \> Also, it is far more common in the real world to see an attractive woman with an \> unattractive man than the other way around, in my opinion. First, my observations have been that that’s not true. There are just as many couples where the man is better-looking than the woman, as far as I’ve seen. Second, that can’t be true for a simple mathematical reason. If you matched up every man in the U.S. with every woman in the U.S. so that the woman in the couple is slightly better-looking than the man in the couple, there would have to be quite a few very attractive men and quite a few very unattractive woman who are unmatched. (This is doing the rating of the men in attractiveness among themselves and the rating of the women in attractiveness among themselves, with the same average rating for both groups. If you’re going to use some system in which women are more or less attractive on average than men, your claim becomes useless.) This is like the claim that, on average, men have more heterosexual sexual partners in their life than women have heterosexual partners in their life. That’s also mathematically impossible. In every heterosexual sexual partnership there is one man and one woman. Each new heterosexual coupling adds one new partner to those that the man has and one new partner to those that the woman has. The average number of heterosexual partners that men have and women have must be exactly equal. Really, think about your claim. You’ll see that it’s mathematically impossible. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/69 "2015-01-05T01:19:18Z")
Robot Arm writes: \> How many of us wish to have an extremely annoying roommate and to pine for \> years over our hot neighbor? If it was true wish fulfillment, the male characters \> would all be well-hung billionaires with wings. _The Big Bang Theory_ is a slight variant on the usual male wish-fulfillment show. Obviously most TV shows can’t be just about guys who already have everything they could want. Where would the show go from there? TV shows are designed to appeal to a variety of (mostly male) viewers. Some male viewers are just like Leonard. He has dorky friends with even less dating experience than he has and has a hopeless crush on a woman that he apparently has no chance with, even though he and the woman are friends. His fantasy is that he will somehow eventually hook up with that woman. A further part of his fantasy is that his dorky friends will find girlfriends too, although they seem more hopeless than he is. ---
**Author:** ![Reluctant\_A](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@Reluctant\_A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reluctant_A)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/70 "2015-01-05T02:07:50Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > … while Penny is neither (I don’t like her face **and her boobs are too big** ). Is that English? I don’t know what that means? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/71 "2015-01-05T04:04:37Z")
Ok, here’s a question: who’s more attractive- AFF or that slightly misshapen blonde on Cougar Town? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/72 "2015-01-05T04:50:28Z")
> [@Reluctant\_A](#): > > Is that English? I don’t know what that means? 😕 It really is a matter of personal preference. Smaller breasts offer better tactile responsiveness, as there is less real estate between the nerve endings. And realistically, Penny and Bernadette are costumed in ways that accentuate their décolletage – their boobs are pretty ordinary in size, but their outfits make them part of the conversation. ---
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/73 "2015-01-05T12:47:52Z")
[**Howard Wolowitz** : _I don’t care what the bosoms say, Sheldon. I just want to be part of the conversation._](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1256030/quotes?item=qt0504241) ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/74 "2015-01-05T13:49:50Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > Well no one wants to watch ugly people. The producers of _Seinfeld_ and _Roseanne_ would like to disagree with you. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/75 "2015-01-05T15:08:35Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > There’s a lot of middle ground between lingerie model and Amy Farrah Fowler. A whole lot. The thing that gets me is that IRL, guys like Leonard, Howard and Raj would be totally all over AFF, because while she’s not “hot” in the conventional sense, she’s not exactly ugly, and she’s the type of girl that they’d be interacting with at work, at gaming conventions, etc… Someone like Penny or Bernadette would be so far out of the pale that she may as well be an alien from Procyon. I mean, they’d probably try to talk to her like in the 1st season, but I doubt it would actually go anywhere, and what would happen is that Penny would be that unapproachable, intimidatingly hot girl who lives across the hall who mooches off them, but doesn’t actually socially interact with them. AFF on the other hand would be someone they wouldn’t be intimidated by, and would be in the range of attractiveness and educated that they’d be going for, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/76 "2015-01-05T15:49:55Z")
> [@bump](#): > > The thing that gets me is that IRL, guys like Leonard, Howard and Raj would be totally all over AFF, because while she’s not “hot” in the conventional sense, she’s not exactly ugly, and she’s the type of girl that they’d be interacting with at work, at gaming conventions, etc… > > Someone like Penny or Bernadette would be so far out of the pale that she may as well be an alien from Procyon. I mean, they’d probably try to talk to her like in the 1st season, but I doubt it would actually go anywhere, and what would happen is that Penny would be that unapproachable, intimidatingly hot girl who lives across the hall who mooches off them, but doesn’t actually socially interact with them. > > AFF on the other hand would be someone they wouldn’t be intimidated by, and would be in the range of attractiveness and educated that they’d be going for, I think. No doubt about it. The show definitely requires some suspension of disbelief. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/77 "2015-01-05T23:04:18Z")
Mayim Bialik has the type of looks that personality makes or breaks: good personality and you notice the attractive qualities, bad and you notice the not so attractive. AFF has a more exaggerated version of the same and when she first appeared on the show she was homely, BUT she has gotten more attractive as the character has been developed even though her appearance hasn’t changed that much. It will be interesting to see if it will be reflected in her appearance should she and Sheldon ever hook up. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/78 "2015-01-05T23:08:32Z")
Mayim Bialik is attractive, her character is not in the least. I probably would have had a crush on her on Blossom if Six hadn’t been around. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/79 "2015-01-05T23:16:43Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Ok, here’s a question: who’s more attractive- AFF or that slightly misshapen blonde on Cougar Town? Busy Phillips is **hot**. Mayim Bialik is **not.** ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788/80 "2015-01-06T01:05:24Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Busy Phillips is **hot**. Mayim Bialik is **not.** Busy’s OK but I prefer Bijou. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-amy-farrah-fowler-sexy-or-not/708788.md?page=5)