The Self-Inflicted War On Women
By Mitch Berg
Feminists – including some, no doubt, who think “slut walking” is an “empowering” thing – are overshadowing discussion of a major scientific achievement (including, no doubt, the work of female scientists) over what a nerd was wearing.
We’ve come a long way, baby.
November 17th, 2014 at 11:35 am
It’s always about clothes with women.
November 17th, 2014 at 1:10 pm
It’s odd nobody on the TV crew took him aside to say “Dude, you might want to throw on a lab coat.” But I agree, this incident is merely one in a long line of oppressive acts keeping women out of science, technology, engineering and math.
Pharoah’s overseers wore loin cloths on the pyramid project. Ptolomy’s toga kept riding up. Einstein’s socks didn’t match – when he even wore them. And now this – the most brilliant rocket scientist in the world dresses like a nerd. How can we expect strong, confident women to tolerate it?
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November 17th, 2014 at 2:33 pm
If the dude was unable to take the heat for wearing the shirt, he should have left it at home.
If instead of apologizing he had addressed the woman who started this inquisition by name and told her to go fuck herself he would be recognized as a hero.
November 17th, 2014 at 4:56 pm
I agree with Instapundit, who said: “Just to be clear, Rose Eveleth of The Atlantic is a horrible person, who took what should have been one of the best days of a man’s life, a day of doing something no human beings had ever done before, and ruined it in order to feel important.”
November 17th, 2014 at 4:59 pm
If he hadn’t apologized, management would have fired him. They still might, to make themselves look good by shunning the Bad Man.
The only people who can stand up for themselves are self-employed, tenured or union.
November 17th, 2014 at 7:47 pm
Let me get on my soapbox.
Every bronze age civilization develops astronomy. They have to. Bronze age civilizations need accurate calendars to synchronize dates, time religious ceremonies, and to get astrology (fortune telling) consistent from year to year. You need astronomy to tell what constellation the Sun is in at any time.
Ancient astronomers didn’t know or care what stars and planets are or why they moved, they only wanted to be able to say where they are, or were, or will be at a given date and time.
In all the millennia of human history only one group of people in one place and time took astronomy further than that, European males in the 16th and 17th century.
This doesn’t mean that European white males or their civilization are ‘superior’. No one is handing out prizes, if they were, it would be white European males giving them out to other white European males.
It is certainly possible that the reason no European females conceived of a heliocentric solar system, or figured out that the orbits of the planets are ellipses was sexism, but given what happened to Dr. Matt Taylor, it is apparent that in the 21st Century women in the West believe that the clothes you wear when you do astronomy is more important than the science. This is not a reason to increase the number of women in STEM fields.
Science is not about equality of the sexes.