wshaffer

I've seen The Trouble with Barbie Science linked and discussed in several places lately. To briefly summarize, the article talks about research showing that presenting "glamorous" female scientists to girls as potential role models actually decreases their interest in pursuing science and technology careers.

The article has prompted a lot of interesting discussion about what makes a good role model, but the more I think about it, the more I wonder if we're just putting too much emphasis on the idea of role models. How crucial is having a role model to your choice of career?

Trying to analyze where my own interest in science and technology came from is tricky. The most obvious thing that occurs to me is that math and chemistry and computers were fun, but let's presume just for the sake of argument that both boys and girls have the same intrinsic capacities to find science and technology fun.

The next most obvious thing is parental encouragement. Not only did my parents tell me that science, math, and computers were great things to study, but they also gave me very free reign to pursue those interests. (And I'm sure there must have been times when they'd have wished they didn't have a daughter who was constantly on the computer, or collecting samples to stick under the microscope, or soldering bits of wire together in the garage.)

Next up would probably be mentoring - specific people who took notice of my interest in science and technology and provided guidance and support. I owe a lot to my high school science teachers in this regard, and I owe a tremendous amount to C. David Stout at the Scripps Research Institute, for whom I worked as a scientific intern straight out of high school and during summers through my college years. (In some ways, Dave spoiled me - I never found a scientific lab that was as much fun to work in after that.)

Role models were probably next in importance, although the role models who were most important to me were mostly other women that I worked with, not so much women scientists or technologists who were portrayed in the media. (Though, I do remember the distinct pang I felt when I finally realized that no matter what I did, I'd never grow up to be Liz Shaw. I think I was 27 at the time. Childhood dreams die hard.) Many of my role models were also mentors.

I'm sure that if we want lots of girls to go into science and technology, we need to create a culture where it's normal for girls to go into science and technology. And having lots of images of female scientists and technologists helps with that. But I wonder if we focus too much on providing "role model" imagery because it's easier to make a three-minute commercial proclaiming that science is a girl thing than it is to make sure that girls who are interested in science have real tangible support and opportunities.

Anyway, I'd be interested to hear what other people think. I'm generalizing wildly here from my own perception of my own experience, which might not be at all representative. Do you think role models were important to you in choosing your career (be it science-y or not)?

I think Cat Valente's right and we're hurtling backward through time at alarming speed. And not in a fun Doctor Who kind of way. Having huge public debates about access to birth control felt disappointingly like going back to the early 1990s, but Wisconsin's repealing of its equal pay legislation feels like going back even farther than that.

I wish the single out for particular scorn the following from the above-linked article. One Glenn Grothman says:

You could argue that money is more important for men. I think a guy in their first job, maybe because they expect to be a breadwinner someday, may be a little more money-conscious.

First of all, does anyone, male or female, really grow up expecting to be a breadwinner anymore? I'd venture that most of the households that I know require the income of two working adults to keep them running, and the dollars earned by the women are just as much legal tender for rent or groceries as the dollars earned by the men.

Second, what a huge insult to all the households where women are the primary earners. Working single mothers (and, yes, Republicans, there are *working* single mothers), women whose partners are the stay-at-home parent, women whose partners can't or won't earn much income, and, of course, women whose partners are women are getting screwed by the wage gap every day. I know women in these situations, and the idea that money doesn't matter to them is laughable.

But hey, what do Republicans care for justice, fairness, or kids who go hungry because a parent of the wrong gender is supporting the household? The really important thing is that a corporation might get sued, and we can't allow that.

I've just spent way too much of my evening chortling over Go Make Me a Sandwich, a blog devoted to humorous critique of sexism in gaming (both computer/console games as well as tabletop RPGs and the like.) I particularly love the posts where the author takes some particularly ludicrous piece of art that violates both the laws of anatomy and physics, analyzes what's wrong with it, and redraws it to be more plausible. Not only are they funny, they're like mini-workshops for artists on how to do the female figure right.

I'm still not entirely sure what I think of this video as a propaganda piece for women's equality, but Daniel Craig looks more convincing in a dress than I'd ever have expected. (He can't really walk in heels properly, but that's okay...I can't really walk in heels properly.)

rimrunner tipped me off to this rather mindboggling news piece about fraternity rush activities on the Yale campus that included chants about rape and necrophilia: http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2010/oct/14/yale-frat-antics-spark-controversy/

While I don't remember anything like this happening while I was an undergrad at Yale, it wouldn't have entirely surprised me if it had. Delta Kappa Epsilon certainly had an unsavory reputation.

What does surprise me is the tepid response of the university administration so far. So I just sent the following email to Yale President Richard Levin (presidents.office@yale.edu) and Dean Mary Miller (mary.miller@yale.edu).

I was disturbed to read new of misogynistic chants used as part of rush activities by the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity on the Yale campus. (http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2010/oct/14/yale-frat-antics-spark-controversy/)

I urge you to take disciplinary action against the fraternity, and particularly against those members responsible for coordinating rush activities. While I'm glad that the fraternity has swiftly apologized, this is not the first time DKE has used such chants. Yale needs to demonstrate that there are consequences for organizations that engage in behavior that creates a hostile environment for women on campus.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Wendy A. Shaffer
Yale Class of 1996

I would encourage other Yalies reading this to let Levin and Miller know what you think about this.

So, in starting to write up my panel notes from WisCon, I've realized that I'm not that great a panel note-taker. Or rather, while I'm good at writing down what's of interest to me (the title of a book I want to read, a thought spurred by the panel that I want to follow up on later, a particularly clever insight offered by one of the panelists), I'm not all that great at capturing the overall flow of the panel for someone who wasn't there. I'm going to try to do my best to construct panel reports that are informative and don't grossly misrepresent what was going on, but be aware that these are sort of impressionistic.

Okay, disclaimer over. The first panel I attended was:
Strong or Stroppy? Annoyingly Feisty Female Protagonists

In SF/F-particularly, it seem lately in paranormal romance-the protagonist/narrator is meant to be a 'feisty' woman, but comes across instead as irritatingly stroppy in attitude, and rather less tough in action and practice than she sounds. Has this become a rather tedious cliche, and what might other, different, models of effective strong woman characters look and sound like?

Panelists: Vito Excalibur (M), Lesley Hall, Alma Alexander, Paula Fleming, and Jennifer Stevenson.
( And this is what the panel said... )