Comments on: Rising Against the Wind

By: Robert Ando

Robert Ando — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 00:50:00 +0000

Yes, it has taken men [ in general] a long time to look past femininity and realize that some women have brains. [ This is not to imply that only some men exhibit brainkessness ] Female brains are wired differently, so why hasn’t ageism differences been researched?

By: Chas Nassim

Chas Nassim — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 11:33:58 +0000

There are at least two issues. Women tend to be more inhibited about the value – to other people – of their opinions (and that doesn’t mean low self-esteem; it’s a more subtle result of their upbringing). That’s one reason why they don’t put themselves forward as pundits, for example.

Secondly, women and men notice each other, but mostly for different reasons. The old slang (UK) expression for scientists, “woolly jumpers” reflects the fact that for most of the last century, the received image for a scientist was a male boffin too immersed in his work to wear anything else. Women, in all parts of all (as far as I know) societies, generally pay attention to their clothes and looks. So perhaps we should consider the enforced equality of dress and banning of makeup in Mao’s China and ask whether it was an important factor in the astonishingly fast advances that women made under that regime.

And while we’re on the subject of attitudes to women, how about the automatic ageism directed against them? A male professor is in his prime at 60, distinguished at 70. Do I need to go on?

So thank you for stirring the pot, Sheril, and I hope you’ll keep it up.

By: adaptive path » blog » Adaptive Path » Signposts for the week ending 01/28/2011

Sat, 29 Jan 2011 07:32:30 +0000

[...] It’s good to see that for female science bloggers, things are changing. [...]

By: Scicurious

Scicurious — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:43:49 +0000

Thanks so much for all you do, Sheril. It feels like you take the heat for us all sometimes, and that’s not remotely fair. I hope that each time, more and more people will help and we can get more and more good stuff done.

By: KBHC

KBHC — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:43:11 +0000

I second everything said above. Thank you, really and truly, for all that you’ve done and continue to do.

Some women have been attacked more than others, and you’re on that list for reasons that are inscrutable to me (unless it does have something to do with how well and righteously you have raised issues of women in science). But your work has been essential to the rest of us doing more, and saying more, and risking more. You aren’t alone any more.

By: Anne Jefferson

Anne Jefferson — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:13:41 +0000

Sheril, I want to thank you for continuing to shout into the wind on this issue, for sharing your story, for organizing the panel, and for being an inspiration to me and many other women bloggers. I hope that we are on the cusp of change this time, but even if it takes another few rounds of these discussions, your example is spreading and your voice is no longer alone.

By: Lilian Nattel

Lilian Nattel — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:06:06 +0000

Keep on Sheril. You are doing this not only for your peers but for the next generation of women, for my daughters. I posted a link to Ed’s list in the sidebar of my blog. And I read you through my reader, even if I don’t always comment.

By: John Hawks

John Hawks — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:04:08 +0000

I just want to thank you so much for what you are doing.

By: Stephanie Z

Stephanie Z — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 15:56:09 +0000

I’m also encouraged, not just by the volume of the discussion, but by the fact that the discussion is evolving. Knowing that people are listening makes it easier to say, not just that there are problems, but that those problems are sometimes subtle and complicated but still fixable.

By: Ed Yong

Ed Yong — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 15:42:10 +0000

Just wanted to share something I said to Sheril over email: I think she’s had a particularly tough time of it, but every time she’s spoken out on the issue, I and presumably others have listened, learned and processed. I think this sort of stuff happens by degrees and even though this latest surge of momentum might pass, it’ll contribute to the next time and so on. They contribute to tiny little tweaks and checks in personal behaviour – in the way we address female colleagues, the way we think about their work, the way we support and encourage them.

The fact that these processes largely invisible to the people who instigated them is a shame but I wanted to reassure Sheril and everyone else taking part in this debate that, despite the risk of creating a troll-infested comment thread and worse, these posts create much wider ripples.