Whenever a sexist scientist makes a stupid comment, twitter goes crazy. I am not saying this isn’t a great thing (see “Girls with Toys”).
However, one thing to note, is although there is outrage whenever sexist comments are made towards women in STEM (or stupid shirts are worn) it still doesn’t help solve our ultimate problem.
What’s missing is a CHANGE in the number of women in faculty positions in STEM fields. We need to fix the leaky pipeline, and grabbing our pitchforks and taking to twitter might not be doing it. And while Tim Hunt’s comments deserve to have him run out of town (which he was), I’m not sure removing one sexist solves our problem.
So I have resisted posting about #distractinglysexy images (although they are REALLY great and you should go look at all of them) but instead want to highlight this interesting opinion piece over at the New York Times.
Sarah Soper comments on how male faculty are resistant to take on female students, and the more prestigious the faculty, the fewer females you find in their lab. And how that may be one of the cracks causing a leak in the pipeline, especially as you move up the academic pyramid.
Oh and I lied. See below for some awesomely #distractinglysexy images.