Alice's rants
skookumchick | July 21, 2009I cannot even believe this happened. Henry Louis Gates - Harvard professor, scholar extraordinaire (pdf), race theorist, PBS series host on African American Lives, most famous contemporary American black academic before Obama (maybe) - was arrested on July 16 for breaking and entering.
INTO HIS OWN HOUSE. BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE IDIOTS.
Read the story here. The police EVENTUALLY dropped the charges, AFTER questioning him for 4 hours at the police station.
I just don't even know what to say. I am so freaking appalled I can hardly blog this. But to all those idiot people who think we're in a…
skookumchick | June 29, 2009We're now at the end of the month of June, which Sheril inspired many of us to think about violence towards women and girls. We have had a few posts on the subject this month, but I can't help but think about all the stories that will never be voiced, all the violent men who will never be held accountable for their violence, all the girls and women whose terror and pain will never be healed.
If you would, I'd like to invite you to share in the comments to this post the first name (or a nickname) of a girl or woman who you know who has been abused. It could be the name of a friend, family…
skookumchick | June 23, 2009There is irony in doing research on women engineering faculty members, and being a woman faculty member in engineering. One side of my brain tells me that the research says women (and men) who self-sacrifice for their students and colleagues burn themselves out, and instead should figure out how to say no more often; the other side of my brain tells me, "You've worked through the last 2 weekends and are tired, but your 4 students and postdoc need work plans from you before you leave for a conference in Europe on Friday, and you have 2 reviews for IJEE due Friday, and you have to read another…
skookumchick | May 26, 2009Isis and Sheril are having a discussion about some of Sheril's email. She recently got a question from a reader, who queries:
Hi Sheril,
I read with interest your article on 'women and science' in the Discover website. Can I ask, from your perspective, what you think of this study suggesting that men are smarter than women? Because there are a lot of men who agreed with the study, and even some women. The truth is, while I don't want to agree with it, I can't help but think that men are smarter than women. Or at least, made much advances in the field of science than women. Yes, women have…
skookumchick | April 20, 2009Blogger Feministx popped over the other day to visit and leave a comment on SW's "goody goody" post. I hadn't read Feministx before, but she claims she "started my blog with the intention of focusing on feminist concerns, but lately I have taken to writing about the biological basis of human behavior." Feministx invited Sciencewomen readers to come past her blog because
"I really need some women that are interested in science to come add to my blog. Lately, I have been writing about biological basis of behavior issues and most of my readership has become male. They tend to disagree with me…