Or, "Welcome Sheril! Can you please take off your clothes?"
Some of the commenters on this post are really pissing me off...both on Sheril’s behalf and because it really brings home to me just how hostile things can still be for women in science. At least one commenter (David Kroll - thank you) that followed took the jerks to task. DrugMonkey and PhysioProf were quick to call the asshats out onto the carpet at their own blogs and several other* awesome male bloggers are backing them up in the comments - good on you guys!
I see a lot of men over there issuing the appropriate smackdown - thanks guys! It’s good to know that there are some decent male allies out and about. However I don’t see a lot of women chiming in* (perhaps for fear of being flamed? perhaps not incorrectly, considering that this crap seems to be tolerated by the author of the blog?** or perhaps because of some overly-zealous comment moderation?), so here’s my professional opinion:
As a woman in science I can assure you that the misogynistic tittie-drooling going on over there would most decidedly NOT be received by Yours Truly as a compliment.
Attractive female scientist though I may be, I am incredibly irked when I receive these kinds of comments (!=compliments) because it tells me that the commenter is far more interested in imagining me naked than hearing about my science***. It is disrespectful to me as a person (I am not your sex toy) and it is disrespectful to the work that I do (please pay attention because my science is pretty damn good). This kind of treatment does not make me want to share my science (because that’s really what we’re here for right?) with this sort of audience - what’s the point if the audience would rather add my image to their spank bank than listen to the results of my research?
Do you see now how this creates an environment that is hostile towards women?
* - Whoops! I apparently missed some comments that were/are still in moderation (as is my own) - glad to know I'm not the lone female voice over there.
** - Phil did in fact respond with a denouncement of this sort of fuckwittitude after I submitted my comment. The part which implies that he condones this behavior is thusly retracted. The rest stands.*** - Thankfully, I don't get a lot of this on my blog (perhaps because - and certainly the reason that - I don't post pictures of myself)...but I have gotten slightly less in-your-face sorts of comments in the flesh. It makes me so angry when it happens because there is nothing I can do about the fact that my uterus (or maybe it's my breasts?) completely undermines my scientific credibility for some people. I work really hard at what I do and I don't think that it's unreasonable to expect a little respect for that, ovaries notwithstanding.
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18 comments:
Fucking ridiculous. Utterly fucking ridiculous. You see this in the real world all the time. case in point: going to see a local band with friends:
Adults - these guys are good. Nice to hear a singer who can actually sing for a change
Token meathead - man she's so fuckin' hot I'm gonna fuck her in the ass in the restroom w00t w00t
Fucking douchebags. Telling a girl she is pretty/attractive yadda yadda yadda (in context) is one thing, ramming our cock in her nose because you get a boner every time you see a pair of covered breasts makes you lower than my fucking dog.
Hmmm...nice tyop tideliar...
"our cock"
"your cock"
Perhaps the former is more true because all men get branded with the title of Sexist, misogynist fuckwit
I think it's sad that such generalizations are used to paint all men with a broad brush. As you point out, there are plenty of mature adult men who are not total asshats...and then there are a few that spoil it for the rest.
So not only are they creating a hostile environment for women, they're also indirectly creating a hostile environment for the men who don't ascribe to such fuckwittery, but who are assummed to be guilty by association just for having similar reproductive organs.
And yes, context is critical. I love being told that I'm pretty...in the appropriate context. A professional setting, blog, workplace or conference just isn't that context.
The Professional Male Program:
#!/usr/bin/perl
if (@professional = woman)
{check for own testicles}
if (@professional = "hot" woman)
{scream "But if I can't oppress the women scientists with subtle sexism and blatant asshattery my fragile male ego will fall apart! Then I'd be so ashamed and cowed that I would, in fact, no longer really be a man; I'd just be a limp eunuch! I need to be a douchebag to feel like a man!"}
{end satire}
TS: I'm a Python girl, myself. :)
AA: good post. it. makes. me. mad.
Hmmm...my comment is still lost in moderation at the blog in question.
There's no profanity...tittie-drooling? I doubt that a filter would pick that up. Damn? Oh, come on. Sex? Folks it's a biological process and a scientifically correct term. If the filter is screening for that then all hope is lost.
It may be that some of us women are just too tired to care. I usually get all riled up and would post comments as well as follow ups on my own blog. I just don't have the energy today. A great response.
Actually, there have been several arguments in the comments of my blog because some comments get held up in auto-moderation, and I only check it about once an hour (which is still a lot!). This time it was particularly irritating because several women's comments were held up. Sigh.
Personally, I don't comment on that kind of chatter because it just falls on deaf ears anyway. Most of the commenters just want to hear their own voice (read their own words?) and it just becomes a pissing-contest (or who can yell louder and use more profanities).
I'm all for sticking up for my fellow women, but not in that context or in that type of forum. It's just too frustrating :(
Oh, and I think the term is "spank bank" LOLOL
Thanks for commenting here Phil. No worries - looks like it got sorted out. Apologies for my hasty critique - I assumed you were using an auto filter rather than manually moderating the comments.
SM - Somedays I am too tired to play too. I thought it was odd that there were several men but no women responding...turns out that the women's comments just had unfortunately coincident timing and were held up in comment moderation. In actual fact there were several women who chimed in before I did. I have to say it was quite heartening to see so many guys taking care of it for us though.
Oh.... crap like this really pisses me off. Thanks for putting together a response!
These are probably the same skeezebags that around real live women proclaim how 'nice' they are and wonder why their paths are not littered with the panties of eager nerdettes. Geez, show a little respect to the gender that gave birth to you.
Anna Kushnir, one of the Nature Network bloggers (and at the time, staffers) did a guest blog post for someone (link lost in the depths of e-time). She took the opportunity to try and put a new spin on the old "less women in science" story, and was *immediately* jumped on by every wanker within e-miles (clicks?). Thankfully a lot of guys came to her defence too. Anna's post wasn't controversial, or even novel, but guys read between the lines they wanted and attacked her nonetheless. I just don;t get it.
Comments over there have now degenerated completely, and I think multiple comments at this point should be deleted or comments should be ended on that post. It's worse than when it started.
I've said as much on that post thread - comments haven't been moderated for some time. Maybe more of your readers need to go back? It's really quite disgusting.
Oh blech! Yes, I agree with you SF. But I thinking that commenting further on that thread at this point is just adding to the fray/traffic and gives the author/editor/moderator more of an excuse to keep them up so long as they are getting hits. For that reason, I'm signing off on that post - I've said my piece.
omg, i am too pissed to go to bed. but you're right AA. i am going to say my piece by never going to discover blogs again, ew.
just amazing post thanks for sharing it
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