Posts Tagged With: Sexism

“Science: It’s a Sexy Thing” (7-18-12)

Posted on July 18, 2012 by Mayo

from Science: Its a Girl Thing

“Science: It’s a Sexy Thing”

(I had this kvetch on “draft” since 6/27/12, but then we lost electricity and I didn’t bother posting it.  It strikes me as even more outrageous than when I first saw it!)

This comically absurd music video, “Science: It’s a Girl Thing” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/22/science-its-a-girl-thing-_n_1620235.html?utm_hp_ref=science is understandably evoking outrage and/or guffaws. Scantily clad girls and women are Continue reading →

Categories: Misc Kvetching, phil sci | Tags: , | 2 Comments

Women: Be Neither Go-fer Nor Golfer 5/18/12

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Mayo

I was asked what I thought of the ninth recommendation among Julie Steinberg’s “nine rules women must follow to get ahead”: Dress well and play golf.

“You need to learn how to play golf. You don’t have to be good, but you have to be competent enough to be invited for quality bonding time.”

The idea of recommending a woman take on a sport or hobby that is popular with male colleagues but which she wouldn’t have pursued otherwise is, in my opinion, absurd and bound to be self-defeating. Continue reading →

Categories: Misc Kvetching | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Mixed Feelings Page: Overheard on the Blogosphere….

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Mayo

female philosopher of science

A reader sends me a discussion post from a website Butterflies and Wheels:Fighting Fashionable Nonsense

Luna the Cat says (Oct 22, 2011):

        I never had much time for philosophy, personally, until I got interested in the question of how do we know what we know, and the philosophy of science; and when I started looking more into that, I stumbled across Deborah Mayo, http://www.phil.vt.edu/dmayo/dmayo.html. I was blown away at the rigorous logic of her thinking, and I have to admit to learning a great deal from reading her work.
        The thing that pisses me off is, nobody outside a very narrow field seems to know who she is, and I almost never see her name in discussions of the modern forms of philosophy of science, even when the discussion is all about the limits of falsification and Duhem’s problems, areas where her work is squarely situated. And when I have discussions with the occasional person who is interested in this kind of thing, I often get a reaction of “really? I’ve never heard of her; a woman, eh?”
And I cannot believe this is because of the quality of her work. Read some of it, judge for yourself. http://www.phil.vt.edu/dmayo/personal_website/bibliography%20complete.htm
        I’m so disheartened about the fact that sexism seems to be getting worse. I hate to say it, but I think JennieL might be right, there has been a kind of male backlash where some who don’t think women have any business intruding into such a serious field have gathered and made an immovable and hostile cohort. But that’s just so damned backwards.



Dear Luna the Cat: Get in touch!  I’ll send you a copy of my new book!: error@vt.edu

Categories: phil sci | Tags: , | 1 Comment

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