Ludicrous Language

The latest issue of Smithsonian arrived today, in time for my dinner. There are few things more pleasing than reading and eating on a fine summer day, sitting on the back patio with a light breeze blowing and the perfect toasted cheese sandwich, not burned this time, sitting on my plate. But even a perfect toasted cheese sandwich can have its charms diminished when you find your sex so blithely dismissed in the opening lines of an article that caught your eye: Seventy-seven thousand years ago, a craftsman sat in a cave in a limestone cliff overlooking the rocky coast of what is now the…
A number of my Sciblings have taken up the challenge of the last "Ask A ScienceBlogger" question, "Why do you blog, and how does blogging help you with your research?" (See for example Alice and Janet and PhysioProf and Grrl and DrugMonkey.) I am not currently involved in research, nor am I even employed, so the second half of the question is not very relevant for me. I thought I'd turn the first part around, though, and share with you all the reasons why I shouldn't be blogging, at least not about gender and science. These are culled from comments over the past I-can't-believe-it's-been-…
Scientiae's April Carnival is now up - actually has been up for a few days while I've been off having migraines. Peggy has done an excellent job with many thought-provoking submissions. I particularly like Mrs. Whatsit's ponderings on what it what it means to "have the balls". And I positively swooned on reading Liz Henry's submission. That's some writing after Zuska's own heart! Here's a delicious excerpt: You can see two assumptions set up here: Women who like computers are ugly. It fucking matters. and It's tokenizing; it's like suggesting women are only in tech because of…
Last month I wrote about children, academic careers, and moms. Lively discussion ensued. Here's something you should read for a follow up, and hat tip to Sciencewoman for the link: Let me reminds you, once again, that people do not "choose" to have kids. A lot of people choose *not* to have kids--birth control, wealth, and modernity certainly contribute to this decision, which is perfectly irreproachable, by the way--but reproducing is not a conscious decision. It is something that the bodies of living creatures simply DO. It is, in fact, part of the definition of "living." If Bitch, PhD'…
Science policy, 20 years of sexual harassment, French women students as prostitutes: a round-up of stuff from the Chronicle: Dan Greenburg of Brainstorm complains that the U.S. has no national science policy. Some commenters say "that's a good thing". Over at Chronicle Careers, Julie Vick and Jennifer Furlong talk about how to write good letters of recommendation. They include this advice: The dean also talked about an issue that merits more discussion in academe: the difference in recommendation letters written for men and women. He suggested that people writing reference letters read…
The latest Watson news is that Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has "suspended [his] administrative responsibilities...pending further deliberation by the board." Watson, meanwhile, has begun the "Did I say that? No! I didn't mean it!" apologia that usually follows when some noted figure catches hell for being more frank about his or her racist views than the public is used to. He also said that "to all those who have drawn the inference from my words that Africa, as a continent, is somehow genetically inferior, I can only apologize unreservedly. That is not what I meant. More importantly…
Spitting on Rosalind Franklin's grave is apparently not satisfying enough for Jim Watson. When you are a largemouth ass, you have to do much, much more. So now he's maligned all of Africa and everyone of African descent. Here's a quote: he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the testing says not really". Also, His views are also reflected in a book published next week, in which he writes: "There is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual capacities…
Really. I am not making this up. As quoted in The Guardian: He smiles. "Rosalind is my cross," he says slowly. "I'll bear it. I think she was partially autistic." He pauses for a while, before repeating the suggestion, as if to make it clear that this is no off-the-cuff insult, but a considered diagnosis. "I'd never really thought of scientists as autistic until this whole business of high-intelligence autism came up. There is probably no other explanation for Rosalind's behaviour. Oh, yes, a considered diagnosis, I'm sure. He's been considering since 1953 what he'd like to preemptively…
Here's a charming quote from a recent LA Times piece on neuroscience: ...Lynch said: "Several years ago, I sent a student out and said, 'Your job is to find out what the boys know about assembly.' That's what grad students are for. They're the cannon fodder of science. You throw them at problems that have no chance of being solved..." The cannon fodder of science. If I were a graduate student, I would so not go to work in Moron Gary Lynch's lab. Especially if I were a female graduate student. I mean, really - "the boys"? Sexism and infantilizing your rivals all in one handy phrase. I…