The Proper Way To Be A Woman In Science
The problem, you see, is that women aren't really allowed to be ANYTHING in science.Posted on November 14, 2008 9:02 AM • 70 Comments •
Thus Spake Zuska
A Blog For All and No One
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Zuska is the kick-ass alter-ego of Suzanne E Franks. When not dispensing Zuska's wisdom, Suzanne can often be found gardening, reading, or having one of her thrice-weekly migraines.
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The place where I come from...is a small town. Coalfields of the Appalachian Mountains
You will be wanting to read my excellent essay, 'Suzy the Computer' vs. 'Dr. Sexy': What's a Geek Girl to Do When She Wants to Get Laid? in She's Such a Geek! Women Write About Science, Technology, and Other Nerdy Stuff.
If you have not yet figured out why you shoud not be using terms like "hard science" and "soft skills", then you absolutely need to read Telling Stories About Engineering: Group Dynamics and Resistance to Diversity in NWSA Journal v. 16 No. 1, 2004 (Re)Gendering Science Fields.
You should also read They Blinded Me With Science: Misuse and Misunderstanding of Biological Theory, an excellent critique of Thornhill and Palmer's nonsense about rape as an evolutionary strategy. You can find it in Burack and Josephson's must-read tome, Fundamental Differences: Feminists Talk Back to Social Conservatives.
Support the Mautner Project for Lesbians With Cancer! "The Mautner Project improves the health of lesbians, bisexual, and transgender women who partner with women, and their families, through advocacy, education, research, and direct service. [The Mautner Project envisions] a healthcare system that is guided by social justice and responsive to the needs of all people."
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Why There Are No Women in Science:
Women Paid Poorly, Men Behaving Badly - What Else Is New?
Hmmm...makes you wonder why exactly he's so anxious to have this official proclamation of his innocence.Posted on November 7, 2008 6:22 PM • 6 Comments •
What's Wrong With These Scholarships?
The problem, as I see it, with something like the L'Oreal scholarships is that they are just a band-aid.Posted on October 14, 2008 9:52 PM • 16 Comments •
PC vs Mac: Race and Gender in Advertising
Mac commercials depend upon the stereotype of the PC user as a geeky un-cool white dude.Posted on October 1, 2008 4:16 PM • 29 Comments •
Sexual Metaphors at Hacker Camp
"Penetrate" is a word that appears with some frequency.Posted on August 5, 2008 10:41 PM • 11 Comments •
It's SO Not Fair For You Women To Hang Out Together!
The womanist is "not a separatist, except periodically, for health".Posted on August 5, 2008 12:04 AM • 27 Comments •
Stereotype Threat in a Real-Life Setting
A great post at eduwonkette looks at gender and stereotype threat in math performance. Stereotype threat has been well-documented in "laboratory" settings, but eduwonkette reports on a study in a real-life setting: These men and women were, by all accounts,...Posted on August 4, 2008 12:08 PM • 6 Comments •
Normative Heterosexuality In ScienceLand
The patriarchal borg is intent upon assimilating you.Posted on August 1, 2008 9:24 AM • 18 Comments •
Talking Back to Conservatives About Title IX and Science
You all may be aware of the moronically stupid column by John Tierney that ran in the NY Times recently, an opinion piece disguised as reporting. I haven't had a chance yet to give my own response to this piece...Posted on July 29, 2008 7:17 PM • 5 Comments •
Physioprof at Feministe
Hello, dear readers...if there are any of you left...I've been away for a week taking care of mom, plus the usual migraine breaks...back home now, and hoping to get back in the blogging groove asap. Meanwhile, Physioprof is off guest-blogging...Posted on July 16, 2008 10:11 PM • 10 Comments •
The Bimbo Game
Rarely, it happens that I am left speechless....Posted on June 30, 2008 3:07 PM • 6 Comments •
Why I Shouldn't Blog
Reasons why I should not blog (or at least, why no one should pay attention to me):Posted on June 19, 2008 2:10 PM • 24 Comments •
Flextime: It Sets Such A Bad Example!
New Boss should be deeply ashamed of being such a retrograde defender of the patriarchy.Posted on May 12, 2008 2:25 PM • 24 Comments •
Read This Comment!
Everybody ought to read this comment by Grimalkin. Especially those of you who are so enamoured of "just speculating" and/or "considering the possibility" that women's essential biology causes them to "not be interested in" math, science, and engineering. After you...Posted on May 7, 2008 3:22 PM • 14 Comments •
It's Just No Use, Girls: A Profound Analysis of Gender and Engineering
There is Boy Stuff, and there is Girl Stuff. Engineering is Boy Stuff.Posted on April 30, 2008 6:56 PM • 63 Comments •
It's That Time Of Year Again
"But we can't have the NAS lowering its standards just to admit women/minorities!"Posted on April 30, 2008 1:16 PM • 12 Comments •
The Reproduction of Sexism
For a long time now, I have not been what you would call a believer in progress. That is, I do not think things are bound to improve in the gender equity arena. I think we are in the middle...Posted on April 30, 2008 11:22 AM • 10 Comments •
Gender Bias in Particle Physics: A Statistical Analysis
UPDATE: After posting this entry, I found out that the paper I discussed here is not actually slated at this time to be published in a peer-reviewed journal; it is merely available as a preprint. Nevertheless, I hear that the...Posted on April 17, 2008 7:23 PM • 40 Comments •
Explaining (Away) Women Geeks
The article on Mayer follows this pattern, simultaneously overexposing and erasing her.Posted on April 8, 2008 4:26 PM • 106 Comments •
April Scientiae Is Here!
That's some writing after Zuska's own heart!Posted on April 7, 2008 6:08 PM • 3 Comments •
Weber v. Fermilab - An Update
I've mentioned Kay Weber and her lawsuit against Fermilab on this blog before. Sherry Towers forwarded an email to me that gives an update on Kay's situation:...Posted on April 3, 2008 6:00 PM • 4 Comments •
Links for 4-3-2008
Physioprof weighs in on the issue of pseudonymous blogging and "blogging while female" phenomenon. It's a good read. Peter Sagal, who hosts NPR's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!" has a piece on gender inequity in Whoville. It's awesome. An excerpt:...Posted on April 3, 2008 5:42 PM • 4 Comments •
Advice From "Becoming a Writer"
Time and energy spent in efforts to educate knuckleheads about women's abilities and the barriers they face is time and energy that can't be spent for some other creative endeavor.Posted on March 27, 2008 6:03 PM • 5 Comments •
Some More Links for 3-17-2008
Good stuff from the AWIS Washington Wire: A new website on reducing stereotype threat. The engineering of ice cream, from Yale's first female dean of engineering. "More than half the women in the world live in countries that have made...Posted on March 17, 2008 4:05 PM • 1 Comments •
Selling Your Blog With Cheesecake
Afarensis, I puke upon your pseudonymous shoes.Posted on March 6, 2008 4:34 PM • 15 Comments •
Links for 3-4-2008
Janet Stemwedel has a lengthy, informative, interesting post on that eternally troublesome question: When in my graduate career should I have a baby? After reading it, I am put in mind of that New Yorker cartoon with the guy on...Posted on March 4, 2008 9:59 PM • 2 Comments •
Quantitative Data Show the Dearth of Women on Science and Engineering Faculties
Maybe you've been wondering just exactly how few women scientists and engineers there are in academia in the U.S. Or, to put it another way, maybe you've wondered just exactly how much men scientists and engineers are overrepresented in academia....Posted on February 27, 2008 1:48 PM • 14 Comments •
Changing the Culture of Science in Japan
What happens when you speak up about gender inequity in Japan's science culture? Why, you can expect to be accused of "tarnishing the reputation" of the university, that's what. That's what happened to biophysicist Mitiko Go when she spoke out...Posted on February 21, 2008 2:42 PM • 6 Comments •
How To Get Published in Nature: Try Not To Be Female
Well, I guess if it only benefits women it isn't "beneficial".Posted on February 14, 2008 6:07 PM • 29 Comments •
Whose Issue Is This?
After all, the kid you're raising today may be the person wiping my ass someday in the nursing home.Posted on February 13, 2008 3:50 PM • 40 Comments •
Telling The Story Of The Group
Raise your hand if you've been to diversity camp! You know - sometime during the academic year, your department head or dean announces there's going to be a diversity meeting/seminar/retreat. People grudgingly attend, they do some exercises to maybe show...Posted on January 31, 2008 3:23 PM • 5 Comments •
Why Boing Boing Doesn't Blog About Housework
Gender, and sexual orientation, and race, can come through in your blogging by what you do (or do not) attend to in your posts.Posted on January 28, 2008 10:49 PM • 13 Comments •
A Gender-and-Science Paradox
Boys will be boys, with their technological toys, and girls will take care of the relationships at work.Posted on January 28, 2008 9:33 PM • 4 Comments •
What We Talked About At The NC Science Blogging Conference
...making the decision to speak out needs to be a well-informed one: what will I risk? is it worth it? can I live with the potential consequences?Posted on January 22, 2008 11:12 PM • 4 Comments •
Women in IT Resource; Technologies That Influence Us CFP
Some interesting things came across my listservs this week; one from WEPAN, another from the WMST-L listserv: a new book on recruiting women in IT, and a very interesting call for papers. Details after the jump....Posted on January 16, 2008 10:04 PM • 0 Comments •
Scientific Nail Polish
I have no time for a real entry, but if you haven't yet had your daily quota of sexist nonsense, check out these two links. Melissa McEwan parses the gender segregation at the Discovery Channel Store. (Thanks to Bora for...Posted on December 7, 2007 4:36 PM • 1 Comments •
Bad Advice On Dealing With Harassment From An Associate Dean
Here we are in 2007, and you can be an associate dean at a prestigious institution of higher education, and still be completely clueless about campus sexual harassment policy and its legal implications.Posted on November 1, 2007 3:15 PM • 9 Comments •
Stuff I Read and Thought You'd Like
Some great posts on other blogs you may have missed reading: Language Log has a great critique of the new PBS show WordGirl, which I found via Fairer Science. If that's not enough to make you grind your teeth, then...Posted on October 27, 2007 11:08 AM • 0 Comments •
Friday Bookshelf: "On Her Own Terms"
This week's Friday Bookshelf is actually a repeat of a blog post from the old blog site. It begins with a question: Who was Annie Montague Alexander?...Posted on October 19, 2007 2:27 PM • 2 Comments •
Watson to Africa: You're All Dumb
Jim Watson is a consummate ass. I don't care if he discovered the secret of life, the universe, and everything, he's still a misogynistic racist miserable S.O.B.Posted on October 17, 2007 4:30 PM • 30 Comments •
Watson Stoops to New Lows in Calling Franklin Autistic
Not, of course, that how he sees it bears any relationship to reality.Posted on October 16, 2007 1:17 PM • 19 Comments •
Scholarships for "Special" People, Redux
From the Chronicle of Higher Education, Home-Schooled Students Rise in Supply and Demand: "Home schooling often really allows students to develop a passion," says Sabena Moretz, associate director of admissions at Richmond. "With a traditional high school, most of the...Posted on October 10, 2007 2:44 PM • 18 Comments •
How Do You Find Part-Time Work In Science?
How do you maintain a career in science when you can't work full-time?Posted on October 8, 2007 11:32 PM • 13 Comments •
Scholarships for "Special" People
Chem Blog needs some serious shoe-puking.Posted on September 27, 2007 11:55 AM • 22 Comments •
Why There Are No Great Women Science Bloggers
Gender equity: it's not rocket science. Just review the list.Posted on September 19, 2007 6:17 PM • 35 Comments •
The Authorities: Always Looking Out For Women
Potential academic rapists, take note: if you want to get off with just the minor inconvenience of house arrest, make sure to portray yourself as doing research of immense "societal value".Posted on September 12, 2007 4:01 PM • 4 Comments •
Men [Sick]
Scientist, you see , actually means "men of science".Posted on August 19, 2007 8:36 PM • 14 Comments •
Title IX and Your Toilets
who knew???Posted on August 16, 2007 5:39 PM • 23 Comments •
Female Science Professor's Scary Stories
We learn our gender politics early and often, and in the strangest of places.Posted on August 15, 2007 6:59 PM • 4 Comments •
Where Am I Supposed To Put This Bloody Thing?
Where, indeed, did those women go to answer nature's call all those years when the buildings had few or no women's restrooms?Posted on August 11, 2007 9:16 AM • 13 Comments •
Women Swarm Nation's Technical Campuses
Why, wastecans all over campus will be full of used menstrual pads and tampons!Posted on August 8, 2007 5:16 PM • 12 Comments •
A Modest Proposal: Remember The Men
Oh god, let us never forget the men and their problems.Posted on July 31, 2007 9:14 AM • 9 Comments •
Costly Sex Discrimination Puts University Administrators In The Hot Seat
Yes, yes, because lawsuits are the one and only measure of how much gender discrimination is going on at your universityPosted on July 25, 2007 2:59 PM • 2 Comments •
Must Read C (of Higher) E
That fabulous group of women, the X-Gals, is back with the last of their installments in the Chronicle of Higher Education and it is truly Must Read C (of Higher) E. This last installment is titled On the Origin of...Posted on July 24, 2007 2:13 PM • 4 Comments •
The Price of Bias
I long for the days when I can stop reporting about women being groped in laboratories.Posted on July 17, 2007 3:56 PM • 3 Comments •
Math Confuses Princess: I Read It In Seed
I am so not making this up.Posted on July 9, 2007 2:41 PM • 21 Comments •
But She's So Cute!
Maybe this is why there's such a strong myth that hot women don't do science.Posted on June 29, 2007 5:18 PM • 5 Comments •
Ashley Likes Science! But Not Isabella
Do girly-girl names doom her to a life without math and science?Posted on June 19, 2007 8:11 PM • 15 Comments •
An Update
It's either this, or all gardening and no blogging.Posted on June 19, 2007 5:23 PM • •
"I Support Gender Equity In Principle..."
Go right ahead, discriminate your hearts out.Posted on June 11, 2007 6:38 PM • 63 Comments •
The Playing Field Will Never Be Equal: Gender Equity For Physicists
Everything can be blamed on the kids!Posted on June 6, 2007 8:55 PM • 73 Comments •
Between Jellies and Stars
Wherein we meet plants joined in lawful marriages...Posted on May 31, 2007 7:50 PM • 1 Comments •
Fast-Track Mommy Manual
The key phrase here is "institutional strategies".Posted on May 31, 2007 2:12 PM • 2 Comments •
CBS's Dreadful "The Big Bang Theory"
Hah hah hah, "big bang", get it? like the theory, and like, "bang" a chick?Posted on May 22, 2007 5:52 PM • 52 Comments •
Kirk and Scotty (But Not Uhura) Play With "Rick"
It sucks to see the press doing gender bias work for the physicists.Posted on May 7, 2007 11:01 PM • 15 Comments •
NAS Deigns to Admit 9 Women This Year
They don't even track data on minority membership.Posted on May 4, 2007 5:39 PM • 11 Comments •
5th Scientiae Is Up
You might want to check out this horror story...Posted on May 1, 2007 7:50 PM • 1 Comments •
Emasculating Men: Women's Access to Science
Daydreaming about the Revolution in science is a luxury few women scientists can afford.Posted on April 6, 2007 1:37 PM • 4 Comments •
Life as a Leak, Part 3
One day you're a scientist, the next day you're not?Posted on April 2, 2007 3:16 PM • 11 Comments •
Life as a Leak, Part 2
Leaving academia meant feeling giddily untethered, almost adrift.Posted on March 23, 2007 8:47 PM • 22 Comments •
Life as a Leak, Part 1
To sum up: either she stinks, or she's unworthy.Posted on March 22, 2007 7:23 PM • 21 Comments •
Letter to AAUW in Support of Kay Weber
Absinthe has asked me to do a mirror post of her post on this issue. So, here it is. Several months ago I told you about the Kay Weber v Fremilab lawsuit in my post Class action lawsuits. If you...Posted on February 22, 2007 7:12 PM • 0 Comments •
Gender Schemas and Unequal Pay
This is the second of three discussion posts for Week 1 of Feminist Theory and the Joy of Science. You can find all posts for this course by going to the archives and clicking on "Joy of Science" under in...Posted on February 12, 2007 6:42 PM • 7 Comments •
How Do We Break The 20% Barrier?
Are women in engineering programs a waste of time and resources?Posted on February 12, 2007 9:59 AM • 15 Comments •
Joy of Science Week 1 Reading Summaries
Welcome to the first day of our course on "Feminist Theory and the Joy of Science". This post will be a presentation of the summaries for each of this week's assigned readings. If you were not able to do the...Posted on February 12, 2007 8:59 AM • 0 Comments •
Diversity: Meeting Norms - Or Eliminating Barriers?
Isn't diversity what those Other people have? You know, sort of like a disease.Posted on February 8, 2007 9:02 PM • 8 Comments •
Debating the Evidence
This book should challenge readers' emotional and political biases through empirical science.Posted on February 2, 2007 3:35 PM • 4 Comments •
What's a Feminist Theory of Science, Anyway?
Aren't feminists those hairy-armpit man-hating humorless dykes?Posted on January 31, 2007 3:37 PM • 39 Comments •
Distinguished Schmuck Visits, Misbehaves
Let gender bias incidents make men uncomfortable, let it be something they have to deal with.Posted on January 29, 2007 12:54 PM • 44 Comments •
Scientists and the Public - What's Our Responsibility?
Well, I would argue that good science blogging is NOT just "my opinion...Posted on January 24, 2007 7:29 PM • 4 Comments •
"Conversations We Need To Have"
Dr. Free-Ride talked about the need for community and communication as key ingredients for human beings to flourish.Posted on January 24, 2007 4:03 PM • 1 Comments •
Aunty Zuska's Impeccable Advice For Worried Dads
Everyone says "encourage your daughters to stick with math and science". And you want to do it. You're proud of your daughter, you want her to have every option in the world open to her. But what do you do...Posted on January 18, 2007 1:28 PM • 12 Comments •
The Delicate Sensibilities of Teenage Girls
Writing about the intimate and personal lives of women geeks, and putting that writing into the hands of young girls, is a political actPosted on January 16, 2007 4:55 PM • 24 Comments •
The X-Gals on Motherhood and ChildCare
The link is not between productivity and having children. It's between productivity and child care.Posted on December 6, 2006 10:43 AM • 3 Comments •
Why I Am Not Polite
I curse him, as I curse every sexual harrasser, in the following manner:Posted on December 4, 2006 9:25 PM • 40 Comments •
Rebutting Rachel
perhaps she has not yet had a lot of experience with complicated graphics.Posted on November 21, 2006 2:11 PM • 5 Comments •
Toadygawa Translated
It is too, too good to pass upPosted on November 21, 2006 1:56 PM • 2 Comments •
What's Wrong With This Statement?
People ought to know their place and keep to it.Posted on November 21, 2006 9:30 AM • 1 Comments •
Methods of Prohibition
you wouldn't expect that dogturd of a man to be sexually abusing herPosted on November 20, 2006 4:18 PM • 2 Comments •
How To Suppress Women's Science and Engineering
She didn't do science. (But if it's clear she did the deed...)Posted on November 20, 2006 2:05 PM • 8 Comments •
Tonegawa Steps Down!
Toadygawa is history! At least at Picower. The Chronicle's news blog reports that Susumu Tonegawa is stepping down as head of Picower after an university investigation found he "behaved inappropriately when he tried to discourage a young female scholar from...Posted on November 20, 2006 9:39 AM • 2 Comments •
Shake Off The Dust...
Go not into the way of the misogynists, and into any city of the Resistants enter ye not.Posted on November 15, 2006 12:53 PM • 18 Comments •
Because We Don't Have To
It doesn't matter how nicely we speak, how nuanced our arguments and discussions, how sweetly we invite.Posted on November 8, 2006 7:22 PM • 18 Comments •
Why Are All The White Men Sitting Together In The Other Conference Rooms?
So I'm at a conference where the majority of attendees are white males. Well, after all, it is an engineering conference. Anyway, given the demographics, do you expect to walk into any particular parallel session and find that there are...Posted on October 31, 2006 9:37 PM • 10 Comments •
Sunday at the FIE
So I'm at the Frontiers in Education conference, and there's so much good stuff going on my brain is on overload. Plus, there are other people here who call themselves feminist engineers! It was worth the price of admission just...Posted on October 30, 2006 11:15 PM • 0 Comments •
Censorship
Well, I'll never work in academia again after those last two posts. I suppose if my migraines ever get under control I can always go back to industry. Pharma is always desperate for experienced medical writers and they pay better...Posted on October 25, 2006 1:18 PM • 13 Comments •
Morals vs. Pragmatism, Part 2
As I promised, here is the email I received from President Lewis Duncan of Rollins College after I wrote a blog post on his comments on the Karpova-Tonegawa affair. My commentary on his email is in brackets and italicized. Email...Posted on October 25, 2006 11:57 AM • 5 Comments •
Morals vs. Pragmatism
To sum up: he's rich, you're a bitch.Posted on October 24, 2006 1:25 PM • 6 Comments •
The Kings Are (Always) Angry
Dr. Shellie has a post on the National Academies report and the ensuing discussion on Inside Higher Ed. Dr. Shellie says: I am increasingly frustrated with the issue of discrimination against women in academia. Rhetorically, women are being put in...Posted on October 13, 2006 12:05 PM • 3 Comments •
Supporting Women Physicists the Fermilab Way
It's a crappy world for women in engineering, but geez, I'm starting to think those physicists are putting the engineers to shame.
Posted on September 18, 2006 3:46 PM • 8 Comments •
Leaky Pipelines, Or Locked Doors?
Something important we need to keep in mind: when we say "women" we are usually, unconsciously, thinking "white" at the same time.
Posted on September 18, 2006 1:08 PM • 5 Comments •
This is The Patriarchy: When Talking to the Master, Speak in a Civil Tone
Ostensible allies who can't do much more than be nice are sometimes more frustrating and difficult to deal with than outright obnoxious sexist bastards; with them, at least, it's pretty clear where you stand.
Posted on September 15, 2006 5:59 PM • 26 Comments •
Who's NOT a Leader?
I just wanna hurl chunks right now at fellow Sb'er Chad, who writes Uncertain Principles. Chad wrote this foolish entry about the so-called pipeline problem of women in physics. Which just goes to show that even an advanced degree in...Posted on September 11, 2006 5:38 PM • 56 Comments •
Hostile Environment - Examples
So, what would be an example of someone creating a hostile environment in the workplace or educational setting? An example of "frequent, non-trivial acts of a sexual nature" might be, oh, say repeatedly raping your lab assistant nearly 80 times....Posted on September 6, 2006 6:39 PM • 20 Comments •
A Hard Doom
Women scientists and engineers are swimming - and choking - in the effluent from the discrimination factories.
Posted on September 6, 2006 5:36 PM • 4 Comments •
Women Are, or Are Not, Doing Science, And Should Be Encouraged
...reports like this do come in handy when dealing with...cretins [like your] department head, dean, provost, or university president.
Posted on September 6, 2006 3:18 PM • 7 Comments •
