Today I am both proud and indignant about science. I woke up after a near all-nighter of manuscript writing to find two incredible emails. The first was from a scientist clinician friend of mine who was writing to update me on a patient that she had consulted me about. The patient had a very complicated cardiac abnormality that needed repair and I was able to offer her some help. I really like collaborating with this woman. She is a fantastic clinician and has a stellar mind for science. She is also a tremendous mentor and I enjoy watching her interact with students and residents. She really focuses on their ability to communicate professionally, especially encouraging her female trainees to use what she calls their “big girl words.” Teaching young women scientists and clinicians to communicate with authority is an incredibly important task. It makes me happy when our joint efforts are successful.
The other email was from a student that I had mentored previously. Each semester I mentor 5-7 undergraduates from one of our programs (we can tallk later about how I do that logistically). Through no bias in selection in my part, many of these students end up being women. Some of these women spend a single semester in the lab, learn about research and then go on their way. Others have stayed for 1-2 years, doing independent projects. I am very proud that some of them have gone to national meetings to present their work and many have ended up in graduate and medical school. Today I got this note from one who graduated this past semester. When I first met her, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do after graduation. She writes:
Dr. Isis,
Hey! How have you been doing? How is the lab doing? What kind of experiments are you working on currently? I thoroughly miss working with you and learning more physiology every day! I mentioned something to [one of my colleagues] already but I would love to come back and get my phd with in the lab in the next year, either starting next summer or fall (2013)! After I left lab it wasn’t a week later and I missed it so much. I love physiology and learning everyday and working in the hospital setting and doing research, it’s definitely what I want to be doing because it makes me feel accomplished and intrigues me! Hope all is well!
Sincerely,
[Badass Female Student]
I am probably a hard woman to work for. I am not overly affectionate or chatty. I am not a hugger and I know that I am harder on the female students in the lab because I know what they are up against in their careers. I invest a lot of time in them, helping them with their professional development and presentation skills. But, I love physiology and science and it is rewarding beyond comparison to see that spark of excitement in their eyes when they see physiology happen in real time. I love watching them try to explain complicating physiological concepts to each other, gaining confidence in what they know. Helping these women grow and mature is very important to me and there is no bigger reward than to see a woman who began unconfident about her ability to interact in the world of science and medicine become self-assured and equally passionate about science.
That is why shit like this infuriates me beyond reason:
This is a video for an EU campaign promoting “girls” in science. But, the thing is, although I have two X chromosomes, I am no girl. I am a scientist and a wife and a mother, but I am no girl. The women that I mentor are not girls either. Here’s the information on the video from Facebook:
What the hell kind of frivolous asshattery is this? I don’t strive around these parts to hide the fact that I like a nice pair of shoes or the latest Urban Decay palette, but what kind of ignorant fuckweasel would think it anything but patronizing and condescending to try to recruit “girls” into science by telling them that comestics, fashion, and rhythm are what it takes to succeed in science? And what excessive patriarchal bullshit to show a man in a white coat sitting at his microscope while the women prance, giggle, and pose?
At this past year’s Experimental Biology meeting I had the real pleasure of spending a few evenings with a group of incredible science women. I guarantee that not a single on of them struts into their lab like its the runway. None of them are “girls”. There’s a couple of bad bitchez in the bunch, but no girls. It is certainly not comestics, fashion, and rhythm that binds these women together. In terms of their interest in these things, they are as diverse as they come.
What unifies them is their brilliance, their enthusiam and passion for science, and their general support for each other. If you want to get young women excited about science, show them how awesome science is and show them the real women who do that science. Show them the women who have dedicated themselves to helping others succeed and learn. Not a bunch of nearly naked women posing like they are auditioning for the next Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition.
Because science is not a “girl thing”. It’s a really awesome thing.
I totally agree with this except for the “nearly naked” part. I dress like that all the time, and I’m pretty sure I don’t go around “nearly naked” on a daily basis. Otherwise, perfect response.
So, the video is now marked “private” by the uploader and I can’t view it to take a screen shot, but do you really go to the lab in clothes that only barely cover your backside and pose for your male coworkers who are professionally dressed with nerdy glasses and crisp labcoats?
You have captured my outrage perfectly. Thank you for this response! I don’t know who “thought” (and I use this term loosely) this was anything close to a good idea..
I showed that vid to my female colleagues, who were (predictably) uniformly disgusted. Never has the word “fuckweasel” been used so appropriately. Thanks!
“What the hell kind of frivolous asshattery is this?”
Favorite line of the day. Thank you for this post.
For those looking to see the video, a mirror of it can be found here: http://youtu.be/g032MPrSjFA
Dr. Isis, while I agree that this video was utterly ridiculous, it’s probably worth it to take a look at their other videos, which I think do a much better job of showing that scientists are people, and that women can enjoy a full life with a science career.
http://www.youtube.com/user/sciencegirlthing
That is un*freaking*believable.
I’d say it could double as a cosmetics ad, but I think it’s too racy for television.
No open toed shoes, EVER, in the lab! I’ve actually seen a few female colleagues learn the hard way why that’s an important rule, unfortunately.
In fact, my department just got a memo telling all lab personnel that they could only wear long skirts or dresses, if they wanted to wear something besides pants, given that pantyhose doesn’t adequately protect against chemicals. I think that’s carrying it a little too far, as I used to like wearing knee-length skirts/dresses… but, then again, I stopped wearing those a few years ago after some higher-up dude in my departments thought it was appropriate to hit on me every time I showed up to work in such an ensemble.
I have to agree that the “teaser” (pun intended) is horrible and that the dresses are totally inappropriate for work (even, in general, unless one works in the fashion industry). Had the same reaction as a lot of people – why is the dude the only one in a white coat and doing science? Ugh.
My scientist daughter sent me the link to this video, just before you posted it. Because of time differences, by the time I woke up in the morning the video had been removed. So thanks to biocuriousgeorgie for sending the link to the ‘mirror’, which has this comment on it:
“Epic Fail ! This video was published by the European Commission
The original video was taken down after it received so many negative comments,”
Totally agree with everything that has been said on this blog.
For one of the few times in my life, I feel that I belong to a Community with a capital C that actually has made a point.
I was going to write to the EU to say that science is NOT ‘girl thing’. It is an ‘everyone thing’ – at least, for everyone who has an interest in it. It is sexism in the EXTREME to say it is a ‘girl thing’, and if this campaign continues, it will only serve to turn boys off.
(As a ps to Lady Day – long skirts in themselves are dangerous in the lab. When i was a student, i compromised with a skirt and long woollen socks. They were cheaper to replace than jeans, when acid and coloured organic chemicals got splashed. And probably protected my legs better, anyway. Not a total fashion item, but neither is a lab coat, goggles and closed-in shoes.
d.
Didn’t we already do this with the goddamn motherfuckenfucken science cheerleader fuckewitte?
Coincidences are awesome. This video was posted yesterday and saw it shortly after reading your post. In the video girls AND boys excited about science while wearing PPE
http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/av/2012/06/video-premiere-mates-of-state—i-am-a-scientist.html
Apparently the album “Science Fair” iss themed around and benefiting science education for girls.
*I’m posting this comment here and on Janet’s site as well. I’m an avid reader/fan of both blogs.
The paragraph that begins “What the hell kind of frivolous asshattery is this?” is priceless. <3
d: Interesting point about the long skirts being hazardous. Never tried wearing one to lab, simply because I thought I might trip on the hem or that the hem might get caught in the wheels of my chair. Eh, I wear pants now, all the time. I honestly don’t care what I look like at work. Just wore skirts/dresses when there was an event after work that I wanted to dress for (without carrying a second outfit with me). But, as I mentioned earlier, I no longer wear those, thanks to the slimeball I had to deal with at work (who’s still there). It’s funny how wearing pants puts and end to it all.
@Lady Day – had a funny situation with a large lab-full of first-yr students one time. There were several girls with different styles of head scarves. At the first ‘safety’ talk, I mentioned that scarves were just as dangerous as long hair, and needed to be tied back just like we required long hair to be tied back – or wrapped neatly around the neck (pointing to one girl with a coloured scarf wrapped just so). The following week, ALL the girls with headscarves had followed my requests to the letter. However, there was one tall, blonde girl with a long – I mean 6 ft long- woollen scarf worn OVER THE TOP of her lab coat. When I approached her and explained she was just about to use a bunsen burner, and the scarf was hazardous, and hadn’t she listened last week when i said scarves needed to be tied back or worn under the lab coat? She looked at me in amazement, but realised that I was correct and removed the scarf. Funny what people think doesn’t refer to THEM, that THEY are invincible. In my mind, long skirts come into this category.
d.
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Isis!!
I applaud this post! I am a male scientist and even I can see how this can be degrading and disrespectful towards females in science. I am also from a racial background that is underrepresented in the sciences. I know the importance of having passion and caring yourself seriously with respect and professionalism! It is things like this, that reinforces the status quo! Geez!!
Preach On!!
If any of my three brilliant daughters pulled shit like that video I would have to commit ritual suicide.
I just wanted to say that I approve of the phrases “frivolous asshattery” and “ignorant fuckweasel”. That and, as always, you’ve said everything I would have. Only you say it better.
This video is what happens when you get a male video producer to make something he thinks will entice girls into science without consulting a woman. Arrogance and ignorance feed off each other to produce amazingly bad results.
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Dr. Isis, you are probably not old enough to remember when the Gilbert Company made chemistry sets in the 1950s–1960s. The lab manual had two teen boys on the cover doing experiments and the subtitle was “today’s adventures in science will create tomorrow’s America.” My parents got me the deluxe 5-wing lab, with that lab manual. What I didn’t learn until later was that there was also a set for girls, in a pink box. It was called the Lab Technician Set For Girls, with the subtitle “another career-building science set.”. So a girl could look forward to a career as a lab technician, but a boy could create tomorrow’s America.
Mom and Dad rocked, to get me the chemistry set I really wanted.
This video feels to me like the pink box set for girls thought process is still with us.
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@ d: Yeah, all kinds of hair care products are flammable as hell. Funny how few women (or even men) realize that.
This… on a day when I found out the 3 months “paid maternity leave” I received from my postdoctoral fellowship didn’t stop the clock… society and culture fail.
@lady day – it is actually the hair itself that is flammable. And subject to being slopped into reaction mixtures. Or sterile stuff, for that matter. Works both ways.
d.
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I think that Dr. Isis summarized one of the main problems of the video very nicely: “It is certainly not comestics, fashion, and rhythm that binds these women [her students] together, but their passion for science. In terms of their interest in these things, they are as diverse as they come.” So, if you want to stimulate young girls to choose for a scientific path, you have to appeal to the one thing that defines a scientist: curiosity and capability to enjoy understanding how things work. Is not about making science more cool or appealing to girls… is about exposing girls to science so they can discover if they have this passion inside them (because not everybody has). And for that, science doesn’t need any makeup.
Word.
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