NASA astronauts in July of 1962 (source: NASA)
In 1962 Parade magazine surveyed American women about the sexiest profession for American men. Here at the dawn of the space age, they were shocked astronauts weren't ranked number one, concluding "Astronauts are great for history, but not for current affairs..."
Doctors were ranked the sexiest and received 25 percent of the votes, though the article doesn't mention how many women they surveyed.
The entire list is below and comes from an article in Parade that I found in the September 23, 1962 issue of the Cedar Rapids Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
- Doctor
- Writer
- Astronaut
- Scientist
- Athlete
- Actor
- Engineer
- Architect
- Airline pilot
- Executive
- Detective
- Newspaperman
- Teacher
- Lawyer
- Politician
- Lifeguard
- Diplomat
- Sailor
- Truck driver
- Mechanic
- Forest ranger
The last paragraph of the article (again, this was all written from the angle of "why don't women love astronauts more!?!?!") assures readers that just because astronauts are ranked third sexiest now, they may get a bump in the rankings over time. It's interesting to see the assumption that astronauts would swell in numbers and become "no longer rare birds."
If the current generation of women doesn't swoon over astronauts, wait a few decades. According to Dr. Rebecca Liswood, the director of the Marriage Counselling Service of Greater New York, parents usually guide their daughters early in life as to the kinds of men they should choose as mates. Perhaps when astronauts are no longer rare birds and women know more about them, future mothers will steer their girls towards space men as marriage material.
This post originally appeared at Paleofuture.com.