Iām certainly partial to science on Tumblr, because ā¦ well, Iām biased, and Tumblr is better :) But over on Facebook, pages likeĀ I Fucking Love ScienceĀ are daily reminding millions of people how awesome it is to discover how the world works (or at least that science memes apparently never get old). Earlier this week, the world āfound outā that the creator of that page āturned outā to be a woman, when Elise Andrew posted a link toher new Twitter account.
You can probably guess what happened next. To everyoneās dismay and no oneās surprise, most of theĀ 1,000+ comments on that postĀ expressed surprise that a popular page was published by a woman. Many of them took it a step further, calling her a ābabeā and saying ādamn thatās hotā and āsexy and smart!ā.
Listen,Ā itās 2013. The world is not gender neutral, and Elise being a woman matters in some ways. I mean, imagineĀ if the fact that a page like that is run by a woman motivates other young women to pay attention to science or gives them pride in their intellectual abilities. Thatās awesome. But every time someone expresses surprise that a woman could do it, or mentions their looks in the same breath as their accomplishments ā¦ itās one step forward and one step back, and here we are spinning our wheels instead of driving into the future. Everyone needs to call this kind of stuff out when they see it.
I know this because I have been the guy making those comments to some women at other points in my life. I didnāt understand why what I was saying or staring at or equating was hurtful or sexist, much less completely ineffective in terms of looking cool in front of women. But people talked to me, and I learned. Now Iām trying to be an ally, forever imperfect, but trying to help others achieve what they deserve. We can all do that.
Biological gender (which doesnāt evenĀ beginĀ to get into genderĀ identity)Ā is nothing more than everyoneās random lot in drawing one of two chromosomal combinations (thereās actually more than that, but you get the point) from their parents. It doesnāt make anyone smarter, more capable, prettier, uglier, softer, tougher or sciencier than anyone else.Ā
Anyway,Ā go follow Elise on TwitterĀ and tell her youāve got her back. It takes an army to change things like this, and we science folks need to stand up for one another!
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