A lot of people have been discussing Matt Taylor (the scientist who helped land a probe on a comet) and his choice of shirt and how it makes women uncomfortable and is part of the problem with regards to few women in STEM fields. And a lot of people have been defending it. This is for them.
You didn’t notice the shirt because for the same reason Christians don’t notice Nativity displays on Government Property.
Because it doesn’t affect you negatively. Women in science have to put up with a constant “boy’s club” of science. This is not the last straw. Women aren’t leaving science or refusing to do science because they see this shirt. But it is one of the many ways women in science have to put up with often pointless sexism. And that as a whole helps women decide to do other things with their lives.
Homophobia isn’t just the guy shouting “god hates fags”. It’s all sorts of things. It can even be something we consider quite small.
And yeah? There are women who harm women’s rights. One of my longest pieces was on a woman who claimed Afghanistan was not that bad for women… I have seen women attack underage rape victims. Trust me, women can be part of the problem just like how men can be part of the solution.
The fact is Matt Taylor himself recognised his error and apologised. His shirt was tasteless. He agreed. We would have moved in of not for the influx of excuses.
And many female scientists have spoken out against the shirt themselves. Women who are in science have to endure people doing things like that. They have to ignore it, but should they have to?
It is no wonder that in the developed world Medicine and Biology have the highest female representations. Because they both have done more to stem this sort of behaviour and push for equality than the other sciences.
My mother is a surgeon. She had to learn surgery during a period where women were actively discriminated in medicine. She was often the only surgeon being trained who was a woman. Many surgeons refused to teach her because “Surgery is for Men”.
This was once medicine.
Surgery is still a boy’s club. Sometimes the behaviour of surgeons puts off women who are on the borderlines. Women aren’t given as much encouragement to learn. Women aren’t given the opportunities. There are still sexist opinions bandied about and macho posturing that puts off women. Yet women are fully capable of being surgeons in Obs/Gynae. Do they teach different stitches? No. Is there a magic understanding of women’s body parts that comes from being a woman? No.
The difference is that there are enough women in Obs/Gynae and the men within Obs/Gynae were more sympathetic to women’s issues and so were more likely to not be douchey about it.
It isn’t just the shirt. It’s all the bullshit that the shirt entails. Here is the thing? I faced a fuck tonne of racism to get to where I am. I don’t want any of my kids or other people to face it. I wouldn’t support the people who do dickish things that I have to endure.
You think “so what if a guy says stupid things? Who cares as long as he can land stuff on a comet?”. And that would be fine if human beings were soulless and all the same. The truth is we do discriminate against women in many STEM fields. While you may not have endured it, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
I repeat. It isn’t women quitting because of a shirt. That’s madness. If you wore a “Fuck you Paki” shirt I wouldn’t leave medicine. I would just go “Here is another dumbass racist I have to deal with. Whoop De Fucking Doo”.
And that from an outsider’s point of view is enough to tarnish their opinion of the field. It is enough to spoil their opinion of a career there. Imagine a young girl having to witness the bullshit my mother had to put up with to go into Medicine let alone Surgery? Some girls will say “challenge accepted”. Many will say “no thanks, I don’t want to spend my life dealing with this sort of crap”.
Medicine and Biology were once heavily male dominated. They just were more progressive towards women and had more socially accepted roles within them for women to go into. Are you suggesting that engineers are magic fairies who can’t handle real social interaction and common understanding?
And this helped make a more equal working environment. When I argued these points on Facebook excused the sexist shirt because women wear make up. Because make up is objectification and sexualisation.
Women wear make up for two reasons.
1. Because wearing make up is a rite of passage and part of gender roles within society
2. Because women like wearing make up
And there is a COLOSSAL difference between a woman with make up on and plastering your shirt with naked women.
As I Said. Do you think medicine was harmed by equality and cutting out as much of the sexism as possible? Nope. Do you think Engineering is going to be harmed by telling one scientist to dress less like a horrible teleporter accident between a Tiki Bar and a stack of Playboys? Do you think it will improve if scientists are more inclusive?
This isn’t sex negative feminism. Seriously? I work with sex workers in India. I am one of the LEAST sex negative people on the planet. Hell? My co-blogger Greta Christina WRITES erotica. Hell? One of my works is the Idiot’s Guide to Contraception and Safe Sex. I like sex. I am pretty open about it. I am not vanilla. I may not hold a fet life account or appear on Sex Nerd Sandra’s podcast but I am at the very least chocolate.
This isn’t sex positive, this is just dumb.
And feminism argues for women to not be blamed for their rapes for wearing any sort of clothes that could be regarded as “sexy”. That they shouldn’t be judged by their clothes provided their clothes don’t harm someone.
Not for turning up to a scientific press conference dressed as a gigantic hamburger. It doesn’t mean defending the right to wear a T-Shirt that says “Fuck all the Dutch”.
In the end? What amazes me is that this shirt is so terrible that it managed to steal the lime light from a robot probe that harpooned itself onto a comet. That’s one hell of a bad shirt.