Thread by @People_Of_Space

Good morning! My week on People of Space is dedicated to the theme of women in space and STEM. We've looked at the @UNOOSA #Space4Women programme, and space books by women, with forays into the works of Margaret Cavendish (1600s) and Barbara Ward (1970s).

And what a week it's been! Women are pretty thin on the ground in NobelPrizeLand, but first of all was the good news that Andrea Ghez was awarded a Nobel Prize for Physics for her work on black holes (with Reinhard Genzel) nobelprize.org/prizes/physics… #WomeninSTEM

Then the Nobel Prize for Chemistry was won by Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna "for the development of a method for genome editing." nobelprize.org/prizes/chemist… #WomenInSTEM

But, you know, one step forward, two steps back. First of all, I came across a man reacting to a fantastic video of Nobel-Prize winner Andrea Ghez. Was it about the science? No, he thought she should have showed 'more expression'. #WomeninSTEM

Women across the world know what this is code for. Yes, it's being told to smile, or smile more, by a random man. #WomenInSTEM

Women being told to smile by men is part of the merry jigsaw puzzle of patriarchy in action. It seems innocuous, doesn't it? What's wrong with smiling, after all? #WomenInSTEM

What the smile thing is really about: the longstanding cultural assumption that women are not fully human. They have no inner lives or motivations. When you're told you should be smiling, it's dehumanizing and annihilating. #WomenInSTEM

For the random man who tells you to smile, it's a passing moment where he feels it necessary to let the woman know she's not pleasing him. For the recipient of this unwanted advice, it's part of a daily accumulation of small moments of asserting or defending her right to exist.

A common reaction is that it's not deliberate, therefore it's not sexist. This is a basic misunderstanding of how sexism works. It's so deeply ingrained in so many societies that people are unaware that their actions and words are indicating the inferior status of women.

Sometimes, however, it's very deliberate. I've been attacked by men for my appearance when I've been talking about my research online. #WomenInSTEM

This has made me very conscious of planning for any public or recorded event. For example, I rarely wear makeup in every day life, but I do for events/videos so this can't be used against me. I want my words and work to be the focus of attention. #WomenInSTEM

The idea that women should not be seen or heard has such deep cultural roots. Every hear people complaining about how annoying women's voices on radio and television are? (especially for female sports commentators). If you are both visible and vocal, there is an associated risk.

Put these together - the assumption that women have no inner lives or subjectivity of their own, and yet choose to appear or speak in public settings - and you end up with another toxic patriarchal trope: that this is 'attention seeking' behaviour. #WomenInSTEM

The other interesting news this week is a statement by the F3 Commission (Astrobiology) of the International Astronomical Union, taking the lead scientists of the Venus phosphine research to task about media representations. iau.org/static/science…

There's a lot going on here and I'm on the periphery of this community, so I can only comment on what I've seen myself. Some of context of this letter seems to come from opposition to anyone claiming possible evidence of life on other worlds.

In the broader context, it's notable that the lead researchers on the Venus phosphine results include women who have been rightly in the media spotlight, yet are being held personally responsible for any (minimal) sensationalist reporting.

The subtext of the IAU letter, issued from a significant international organisation (a response which, as others have pointed out, has not been extended equally to all astrobiological researchers) is that it's dangerous to be seen and heard.

Most of the reactions I've seen from the astronomy/space community have been to support the Venus phosphine team. That's great, but it's not the end of the story. The researchers must now divert energy to managing the fallout from this letter. #WomenInSTEM

The fallout will have different impacts on the men and women involved. One reason for this is another deeply engrained, widespread and rarely acknowledged cultural assumption: that men own and control knowledge and its production. #WomenInSTEM

When I say rarely acknowledged, plenty of women recognise and acknowledge it! This is the source of 'mansplaining' (a much-misunderstood concept), and another phenomenon - where women's success in maths/engineering is assumed to be because of male help.