Rocket Scientista

SeXy Science- You’re Doing It Wrong July 18, 2010

Posted by rocketscientista in Venting, Women in Science.
9 comments

So, over at Common Sense Atheism, there’s a new post up featuring “15 Sexy Scientists (with pics of course)”. He features an awesome science blogger, Sheril Kirshenbaum, who has a history of being called out for her attractiveness, instead of her science. She just posted with the history of the posts about her, her current summary, and she promises her response on Monday.

I chimed in on the whole shebang in the comments, but wanted to bring it here to state my thoughts more fully and maybe start some more discussion.

In the end, I think Luke@Common Sense Atheism is DOING IT WRONG. He featured only males. He featured some exceedingly questionable pictures (if I pose like that, I don’t actually want you to think of me as a scientist). He featured (in my mind) a few questionable scientists.

But I think it can be done right.

 

How?  Why?  What?  Aren’t I a hard science, grad student girl who wears jeans & tshirts most everyday?  Am I not the girl who refused to change her last name when she got married?  Didn’t I call my husband out that time he saw the woman in scrubs and assumed she was a nurse (not a doctor)?  YES.  So, let me break this down.

 

First, I think it’s very important to emphasize to the public and to children that scientists (or atheists) aren’t just frizz-haired, glasses-wearing, crazy dudes in labcoats.

They’re also completely normal looking awesome women (and guys) just like you.

And it’s good for them to know that these people can be attractive, too.  Pretty girls aren’t excluded from science.  And scientists aren’t all super-hot, or super-lame, either.  See, it’s aggravating enough that there are few scientists on tv and in the movies.  It’s a bit frustrating (but still somewhat true) that a lot of those featured are men.  And what’s worse is that the few female scientists who are portrayed are either overly dork-ified, or ueber-sexified.  Really.  GAH.  I’m not a socially inept girl who doesn’t know how to wash herself or brush her hair.  I don’t wear my pants up to my bra.  That said, I don’t wear make-up most days, but I clean-up pretty nice, thankyou.  And I haven’t ever met one of these overly sexed up girls who wears only a bra & undies under her labcoat– that’s dangerous!  But I think it’d be wonderful to have the public image of a scientist not being a super-dork (super-dweeb? super-nerd? whatever).

 

But as someone in the trenches, in the lab, how reasonable is it to present myself as WOMAN?   Should I pretend like my colleagues and I stomp around in heels and skirts, bedecked?  Are those images of women (as in the original sexy scientists post) featured wearing less clothing than most, gazing over the edge of some cute glasses, with a microscope in hand— are those images ok?  Is that how we swing away from the geeked-out visual?  Isn’t that completely work inappropriate, much less science inappropriate?  Would they be taken seriously?  Should we just stick to the pants and leave these sexy lists for the bathingsuit models?

 

My women in STEM graduate group got together for dinner the other night and this topic sort of came up– what is appropriate to wear to give a talk, or attend a conference, or hell, wear to work?  Most of us agreed that we like to make it easy- jeans & shirts in the lab, and a nice pair of pants + a cute button down (or something similar) was the easiest for a conference/talk- they doen’t call attention to our femininity, and we feel taken more seriously.  But one of my colleagues was appalled.  She contended that stomping into the room to give a talk in a rad pair of heels conveyed confidence, conveyed a sense of ease with oneself, a deliberateness, and the noise made people look at you (as they should!).  You stand up there, commanding their attention, to tell them all about your work.  But I wonder if it’s the right kind of attention?

 

I simultaneously do not want to give into the idea that all scientists are male or overly nerdy females, yet I feel like I need to “dude-ify” myself to be taken seriously?  But if I walk in the room in a tall pair of heels and a skirt or dress, aren’t I slamming the audience over the fact that I AM A FEMALE before they get to see my science? I’ve heard too many stories of well dressed, obviously female scientists having comments thrown at them that weren’t welcome.  I get comments (though not overly negative ones) sometimes when I show up to school in a dress.  That’s why I wear my dresses and skirts and cute shirts mostly on weekends.  Would I be dumb to ignore all of that and just strive to simultaneously represent WOMANHOOD and SCIENCE?

 

And while we’re at it, aren’t I kind of being a hypocrite if I say it’s totally unfair to be like, “ZOMG, pretty girls, science” and also strive myself to put out there that I am a girl, with some sass, who’s a scientist?  Aren’t we the ladies of the science blogging world calling attention to our femininity already, by calling ourselves scientistas, or babes,  chicks,  femme, goddesses or anything of that ilk?

 

Dammit, I want to live in a world where my femininity (or lack thereof, sometimes) does not undermine me as a scientist. I want it to be totally normal to rock the heels, or to be in jeans and tees and grody from a day fixing pumps and working in the cleanroom.  I want to be a woman and a scientist, simultaneously, without one part of my identity changing the other.

So, that’s why I think, in principle, a sexy scientist list is totally ok.  I think it should include males *and* females.  I think it should include those who would generally be judged as attractive, yes.  I think it should leave off all those ridiculously scantily clad folks.  Scantily clad in lab = NO.  Dressed cutely and smartly and professionally= YES.  (Well, unless of course it were poking fun at the idea).   I think there should be focus on those people as scientists.  I think the list maker should get the permission of any people included on said list, too. Permission, permission, permission. Do those mags that put out their hottest lists just cull from pictures on the internet??

 

I think the world should know that there are some really hott people doing out there who are fabulous scientists, too.