Robyn Urback: Feminists reinforce their worst stereotypes by making a scandal of Rosetta scientist’s ‘sexist’ shirt
The same week Kim Kardashian’s glistening ass hijacked nearly every major social media feed on the Internet, a scientist who should have been experiencing the greatest moment of his life was shamed to tears over his supposed “sexist” shirt. British physicist Dr. Matt Taylor, who was part of the team behind the pioneering Rosetta mission comet landing, gave an interview on Wednesday as the European Space Agency’s Philae lander touched down after a ten-year, 310-million mile journey. While there were those who actually paid attention to what he said, a vocal few instead honed in on what he wore: a tacky shirt (made by a female friend, not that that much matters) covered in pin-up models wearing bondage gear. The Internet went crazy. A groundbreaking moment in space exploration? Forget it. This man was wearing a shirt that made them feel funny.
Had Taylor’s shirt been plastered with incarnations of Kim Kardashian’s rump, he might have gotten away with it. But the fictional and the anonymous nature of the caricatures somehow rendered Taylor’s clothing unacceptable. Chris Plant in The Verge argued the garment was “sexist and ostracizing.” S.E. Smith in XOJane called it, “Exactly the kind of casual sexism that drives women away from STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).” And Alice Bell writing in The Guardian said the incident reinforces the need for better sensitivity training in scientific fields.
On Friday, Taylor addressed the outrage during a press conference, saying, “I made a big mistake and I offended many people and I am very sorry about this.” It was a painful, awkward and unnecessary moment, especially when Taylor broke down in front of the camera. Despite his apology, a Telegraph writer suggested that Taylor might still “end up being remembered for his risqué sartorial judgement rather than his scientific acumen.” If true, that’s a damn shame.
It’s quite reasonable to suggest that Taylor’s shirt wasn’t exactly the most professional choice of clothing for an interview, but I’ll let his employer reprimand him for that. It’s less reasonable to suggest that a shirt – a shirt – can drive women away from pursuing careers in science and technology, or that it is in some way emblematic of a culture of misogyny within the sciences. That culture may be there – I have no idea – but hijacking a clueless scientist’s clothing and denouncing it as a smoking gun absolutely doesn’t work. Taylor’s critics have also claimed that his clothing creates a toxic work environment for women. That may be true; again, I have no idea. But I’d wager it’s more toxic to suggest that women are so frail, of such feeble resolve, that they can be derailed from scientific careers by a printed t-shirt.
The other problem with this explosion of indignation is that its message – however valid (or invalid, I’d argue) – is lost in the optics of the scandal. Whatever point Taylor’s critics are trying to make about workplace social climate is being overshadowed by how ridiculous the whole thing seems: man achieves remarkable scientific feat, social justice warriors complain about his shirt. The unintended consequence is that it reinforces all the negative stereotypes about privileged Western feminists; that they are humourless, hysterical and forever sweating the small stuff, with few “real” issues of equality left to worry about.
The outrage over Matt Taylor’s wardrobe will certainly change people’s actions; I assume most scientists will stick to a jacket and tie from now on. But will it change perceptions of feminists; this fury over Taylor’s error – ill-timed, and ill-delivered as it was? I’d say certainly not. Indeed, I suspect it will do just the opposite.
National Post (Canada) Robyn Urback rurback@nationalpost.com
Rational – Not Ranting
http://youtu.be/bFdsq96Aa98
Time for the Bullying to Stop
Over the weekend, mankind enjoyed a significant step forward in the field of space travel. Unmanned spacecraft Rosetta successfully detached its probe, named Philae, and landed on Comet 67P, aka Chryumov-Grasimenko. It was the culmination of a ten-year mission for Dr Matt Taylor and his colleagues at the European Space Agency, and a historic moment for humanity: we finally had the chance to examine a comet up close, and perhaps make some steps forward in understanding the way the universe works; how the solar system formed; perhaps even how there came to be life on this planet.
As much as it was a historic moment for humanity, then, imagine how Dr Matt Taylor felt as a significant portion of his life’s work finally came to fruition as the probe successfully touched down and began transmitting data back to Earth.
Then imagine how Dr Matt Taylor felt when confronted with a giddy press more concerned with his sartorial choices than with the scientific milestone he had just passed — the shirt in question being a rather loud Hawaiian-style number featuring rather vivid, camp, retro-style imagery of women in PVC outfits shooting guns and generally looking pretty badass. (A shirt, I might add, made for and given to him as a gift by his friend Elly Prizeman.)
“I don’t care if you landed a spacecraft on a comet,” read a headline on The Verge put together by the two-person team — yes, this garbage took two people to put together — of former Polygon editor Chris Plante and his colleague Arielle Duhaime-Ross, “your shirt is sexist and ostracizing.” And this was far from the only article published that day attacking him and his wardrobe rather than celebrating his achievements.
Can you imagine. Can you imagine reaching the culmination of a ten-year project, making such a significant step forward, and then some blowhard on the Internet telling you that your shirt is directly responsible for women not wanting to enter the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics? Can you imagine having to deal with abuse seemingly supported by the mainstream media, whom you previously thought would be keen to celebrate your achievement but now are, quite rightly, somewhat wary of? Welcome to a world dominated by bullies.
–MORE– Social Justice Bullies
This Week In Stupid
http://youtu.be/SQ1wnGS1ZQ8?t=16m21s
