I have a female friend in STEM who has dealt with an immense amount of misogyny in her field.
That’s really fucking depressing :(
Comment on Twinkle twinkle little star
Nefara@lemmy.world 18 hours agoI have a female friend in STEM who has dealt with an immense amount of misogyny in her field. She’s been the only woman in the room more times than she can keep track of. She has achieved a lot academically, but feels a pressure to conform to a standard of behavior set by men. She loves pink, collects dolls, paints her nails and is unabashedly feminine, and has suffered real social and professional consequences for her gender presentation. It’s literally an act of bravery for her to go to work in a soft fuzzy pink sweater.
I get that the question here is implying that either all little girls are so obsessed with pretty sparkly things that the lack of it would be a detractor, or that it’s reductive to assume that they would and that femininity can take many forms. However, it’s a valid desire to want to do a thing and be accepted for how you are. If a little girl does love pink and glitter and all classically coded feminine things, seeing someone like you in STEM blazing that trail and making a place for you, is just as validating as seeing other minorities in admirable positions. Representation matters.
khannie@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
minorkeys@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
So…no? Not beleiving they can be pretty does discourage girls from choosing to do things?
Nefara@lemmy.world 17 hours ago
Yes, believing that they will be discriminated against for things that they like and face negative consequences for expressing who they are will discourage many people from doing things, not just girls.
There are plenty of girls who fit into a more masculine standard of behavior and will integrate better into male dominated spaces. However, some girls will want to enjoy feminine coded things without judgement in those spaces and that is valid too.
minorkeys@lemmy.world 17 hours ago
K, thanks.
Eq0@literature.cafe 4 hours ago
I will add my own story. Woman, in STEM, I mostly don’t care about what I wear, but sometimes I want to rock it just because. Put on make up, do my nails, wear a skirt. I kept that out of the office until I moved to a department with a flourishing gay community. If they can wear nail polish and skirts, so can I! I’m still usually the only woman in any given room.
As a counterpoint, for a while I was the fanciest dressing person of the department because none of my T-shirts had holes 😒 also got told, jokingly, to not overdo it the one time I wore a shirt.