Friday, April 28, 2006

It's Nature, Baby; Don't Try to Fight It That's the line a nice young man used on me my first year in college, while he was holding me down and trying to rip my clothes off me so as to rape me.  I mean, as he attempted to pursue his genetically developed evolutionary strategy which generated his biologically produced desire to forcibly copulate with any available female.  (You can read what Zuska thinks about that theory here, chapter titled "They Blinded Me With Science".)  Take this little quiz and see how you score:  what do rape apologists, misogynists, and gay-bashers have in common? If you answered:  They misuse biological science to maintain patriarchy and the subordination of women, you may go to the front of Zuska's class! We hear "it's nature baby" sung by a veritable chorus of scientists when the subject is women's access to science and engineering careers.  Some time back, a friend sent me this link to an article in The Onion (which is in every way a fantabulous publication).  The article, titled "Study:  Dolphins Not so Intelligent On Land" is hilarious enough on its own merits as a satire of scientific investigation gone awry through the failure to ask the right questions in a meaningful context for a moral and useful purpose.  But I like to think of it as an allegory for the tireless efforts of the many scientists who, almost daily it seems, bring us proof of women's innate biological inferiority.  Craniologists and Harvard physicians in the 19th century, psychologists and endocrinologists (see also Ruth Bleier, "Science and Gender", Ch. 4) in the 20th, and evolutionary psychologists, neuroscientists, modern craniologists, and, of course, Harvard economists/presidents in the 21st.         The women-in-engineering & science community, however, is less aware of another group singing to us about our true nature.  The conservative religious right, in its own tireless battle against homosexuality, also wants us to know that males are biologically superior to females at math, geometry, and gross motor movements, and that testosterone makes them fight and play with trucks (ah, the playing-with-trucks example, beloved by pundits as varied as religious gay-bashers and Harvard presidents).  Mr. Frank York reassures us: Contrary to the wishful thinking of feminists, bisexuals, and transsexuals, there are profound differences between males and females--and those differences are programmed within the DNA from the moment of conception. The brains of females and males are clearly "sexed," and testosterone and estrogen are the juices that augment maleness and femaleness. To be sure, gender-distorting prenatal abnormalities do affect some individuals, and may increase the likelihood that such an afflicted person will later self-identify as transgendered or transsexual (and in some cases, homosexual). But barring such unfortunate developmental errors--- which we should not normalize as if they were not disruptions in normal growth and development--the simple truth remains: maleness and femaleness are innate and integral parts of our human design. Take home message from the "it's nature baby" crowd: You should stay home and dress modestly to reduce your chances of being raped (boys will be boys).  And why not stay home, since you aren't capable of the demands a career in science or engineering would make?  Besides, it's what God wants you to do.   Or, to paraphrase Garrison Keilor, all the engineers are men, all the women are home, and all the children are straight.      2:37:50 PM    comment [] AWEsome Resources Sorry, could not resist the lame pun for the title. Some news bits from AWE (Assessing Women in Engineering): (1) This report describes results of the "Extraordinary Women Engineers" study.  One astonishing discovery made:  The common understanding among all audiences is that engineering is perceived to be a man's profession and there is little to no encouragement for girls to consider engineering.  Not surprisingly, the report calls for a "fundamental shift in the way engineering is portrayed".  Downplay process and challenge of becoming an engineer, beef up focus on benefits and rewards of being an engineer.  I predict this report will go over like a lead balloon.  There are plenty of helpful recommendations in the report.  And if they were really attended to, engineering would become a girly place to be.  Which I think would be a good thing.  But I am pretty sure that the gate-keepers who depend upon the "only the few, the proud, the engineers" approach to engineering education as means of defining their manhood will not be inclined towards substantive changes.   Think about it.  Suppose we did redefine engineering as a desirable career option for young girls.  Just what would that look like?  For starters, we'd have to get all the engineering leadership to stop talking and acting as if engineering were a man's profession.  Where, hey, we'd be happy to have a few more girls, if only we knew where to find them.  Because, you know, having women around brightens up the place.  Oh, crap, I could go on, but you know it as well as I do.  Read the report and dream of utopia.     (2)  Virginia Valian, author of "Why So Slow?" and patron saint of women storming the engineering barricades across the nation, has a nifty website with learning tutorials.  Kidnap your department head, dean, or provost, strap him/her to an office chair with a head brace that directs attention to the computer screen, and launch Tutorial 1:  Sex Disparities in Rank and Salary.  (3)  Have you been looking for a searchable list of K-12 outreach programs so you could get some ideas for the SWE middle school event or the high school girls tour your dean foisted off upon you?  or just want to borrow someone's cool program acronym?  (you didn't hear that here)  Check out ASEE's database.  (4)  If you register at the AWE website, you'll have access to their forms and survey instruments.  Nice!  (5)  Contact AWE or get on their mailing list by emailing:  awe AT engr DOT psu DOT edu.  12:36:48 PM    comment []

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