Imagine going into a gallery full of beautiful art, but you can only glance at and appreciate any individual piece of art for a second or two. The rest of the time you have look at the blank walls. That’s what it’s like walking around the city in the summer, sometimes. Of course we learn to do it, I’m not complaining, it’s better than not being in an art gallery at all, in fact, it’s a wonderful experience, as Ed says. It’s just that there is a certain amount of constant willpower required to make sure you don’t do what your instincts would sometimes like to do - which is look for longer - and thus cross the line.

As for professors, I bet after a while if becomes commonplace - maybe even a turnoff. Anything you see all the time stops being exciting.

And it’s such a tricky line to balance between the admiration and the perviness, which are both present. How to allow one but keep the other down. When I was young and had also read too much about the male gaze, I used to suppress any expression of admiration for fear of perviness. Almost drove me mad. Now I think I have found the balance that all men have to learn (although I probably let myself leer occasionally and have to pull back).

Russell Smith wrote a column once about just not going on university campuses in the first, still-warm weeks in September because it was just too much. He wondered how male professors even managed to keep it together.