Girl Geeks!

Jan 11, 2007 08:54

Annalee Newitz, co-editor of the book and blog She's Such a Geek!, declared 2007 the "Year of Women in Science." Newitz attributes recent focus on women in the sciences to backlash against Larry Summers' "ass-minded comments." Her post (12/19/06) highlights some 2006 studies investigating the role of women in the sciences. This week, the "Read more... )

charlie anders, girl geeks, larry summers, science, women, annalee newitz, geeks, gender stereotypes, geekdom, geek culture

Leave a comment

Comments 8

mycrust January 11 2007, 16:05:54 UTC
What is the relationship, I wonder, between perceived geekiness and perceived actual scientific competence?

Reply

differenceblog January 11 2007, 16:23:27 UTC
can you expand on that?

I was thinking about this post, and I realized that I didn't really look into the geek cred of the sexy geek girls on the sites I noted today. It's entirely possible that they're PhDs or something, and that I didn't give them their appropriate props, because they were presented as sex symbols and not as role models.

Reply

mycrust January 11 2007, 16:40:46 UTC
I'm curious about the meaning of "geek" and how it relates to sexism in the sciences here. Larry Summers' comments were all about exceptional scientists; he wasn't saying that girls aren't into geek culture. It's interesting (and troubling) that Marie Curie ends up on a list of "girl geeks". Would people consider Einstein a geek? Feynman? Pauling? Gauss? Watson and Crick? Obviously, geekiness and genius are not completely distinct concepts, but if people know these men at all, they probably consider them more heroes than geeks.

There's something wrong when a discussion of women in science begins with a pejorative category like "geek". It seems to transfer the issue from one of institutionalized sexism to something about an individual's freakish tendency to enjoy role-playing games of whatever. As someone who's worked for two rather successful female scientists, it does get under my skin to see Paris Hilton and Lisa Simpson billed as examples.

Reply

differenceblog January 11 2007, 17:51:40 UTC
I think that Einstein and Feynman have been adopted into geek culture -- they are our major icons. I don't think that the meaning of geek has enough perjorative power for that to really enter into the discussion at this point. The geeks have inherited.

Reply


Leave a comment

Up