Despite the best efforts of today's educators, women are still woefully underrepresented in the math, technology and science fields. A recent review argues that the problem is no longer simply a lack of opportunity or encouragement -- in a nutshell, girls just seem to prefer other subjects. The question is, why?

It's true that women are still, to some extent, stereotyped as being less capable in these fields, and certainly this (baseless and false) belief plays a role. But new research suggests that girls may prefer to study language, arts and humanities over math and science for another reason: They believe, often on an unconscious level, that demonstrating ability in these stereotypically-male areas makes them less attractive to men.

Most of us, especially in adolescence, want very much to be romantically desirable. Girls in particular are socialized to see this as an important goal, and both sexes attempt to achieve the goal by conforming to cultural norms of what women and men are "supposed" to be like. Women are expected to be communal and nurturing, and to pursue careers that allow them to express those qualities -- like teaching, counseling and, of course, nursing. Men, on the other hand, are supposed to be dominant, independent and analytical -- qualities well-suited to business, finance and science.

Of course, this research has interesting implications for men as well. In pursuit of romantic love, men may feel discouraged from pursuits that are stereotypically "female" -- those that involve being nurturing and communal. In other words, love doesn't just make girls bad at math -- it may also make boys act like selfish jerks, all in the service of conforming to a romantic ideal.