The professor of the #distractinglysexy fame loses his job

[Ed Anger]

Dames!

[Valmy]

Doesn't he have a Nobel Prize?

He will be fine. I am talking about the phenomenon in general. I don't give two fucks about this asshole but all the rest of us assholes.

people shouldn't be held responsible for their own actions?

They should be held responsible for their actions. By arbitrary mob justice? No. Please show me an example where that has ever been a good way to hold people responsible.

[Tamas]

Doesn't he have a Nobel Prize?

He will be fine. I am talking about the phenomenon in general. I don't give two fucks about this asshole but all the rest of us assholes.

people shouldn't be held responsible for their own actions?

They should be held responsible for their actions. By arbitrary mob justice? No. Please show me an example where that has ever been a good way to hold people responsible.

The guy stood out with the full weight of his "street cred" in science and said "women do not belong in science" then he tried to explain that with "well they could work in science I guess just make sure they are segregated".

This is not a blurry statement blown out of proportion by the usual (and cringeworthy) social justice crowd. This is a major blunder, a highly derogatory statement, which you either distance yourself from, or agree with it. The guy just didn't leave any middle ground.

[merithyn]

I just think people are too sensitive about stuff like this.  Will what this guy said seriously deter any wimmenz from becoming scientists?  If anything it may strengthen their resolve, to prove the guy wrong and whatnot.  Unless I'm totally incorrect and all women are delicate flowers that must be coddled.

Tamas said it best.

The guy stood out with the full weight of his "street cred" in science and said "women do not belong in science" then he tried to explain that with "well they could work in science I guess just make sure they are segregated".

This is not a blurry statement blown out of proportion by the usual (and cringeworthy) social justice crowd. This is a major blunder, a highly derogatory statement, which you either distance yourself from, or agree with it. The guy just didn't leave any middle ground.

And his "street cred" is a Nobel Prize in Science. Basically, a Nobel Prize winner and renowned Scientist stood up and said, "You're not wanted," at a conference intended, at least in part, to BRING MORE WOMEN TO SCIENCE.

Ignore that this is about women. Imagine that he went to an NAACP conference to encourage those there to get into Science, and then said, "We don't want you, but if you're going to come anyway, you should really be segregated into your own labs."

Yes. He should have lost his job. This isn't about an overreaction because we have estrogen. This is insanely wrong on every possible level. Is he a bad person? I think he's an old man with no clue of what's acceptable in today's society, but I don't think he's an evil person. Should he have the job anymore? Hmmm... no.

[Martinus]

Would you two feel differently, if the guy was actually heading a high profile research institute (so he was doing actual scientific work rather than PR work)?

[merithyn]

Would you two feel differently, if the guy was actually heading a high profile research institute (so he was doing actual scientific work rather than PR work)?

So long as he's not in any way overseeing other scientists or dictating who gets what labs, resources, etc., I don't really care.

[The Brain]

I just think people are too sensitive about stuff like this.  Will what this guy said seriously deter any wimmenz from becoming scientists?  If anything it may strengthen their resolve, to prove the guy wrong and whatnot.  Unless I'm totally incorrect and all women are delicate flowers that must be coddled.

Tamas said it best.

The guy stood out with the full weight of his "street cred" in science and said "women do not belong in science" then he tried to explain that with "well they could work in science I guess just make sure they are segregated".

This is not a blurry statement blown out of proportion by the usual (and cringeworthy) social justice crowd. This is a major blunder, a highly derogatory statement, which you either distance yourself from, or agree with it. The guy just didn't leave any middle ground.

And his "street cred" is a Nobel Prize in Science. Basically, a Nobel Prize winner and renowned Scientist stood up and said, "You're not wanted," at a conference intended, at least in part, to BRING MORE WOMEN TO SCIENCE.

Ignore that this is about women. Imagine that he went to an NAACP conference to encourage those there to get into Science, and then said, "We don't want you, but if you're going to come anyway, you should really be segregated into your own labs."

Yes. He should have lost his job. This isn't about an overreaction because we have estrogen. This is insanely wrong on every possible level. Is he a bad person? I think he's an old man with no clue of what's acceptable in today's society, but I don't think he's an evil person. Should he have the job anymore? Hmmm... no.

So race and sex are equal, for instance when it comes to self-identification or reassignment surgery?

[Valmy]

So long as he's not in any way overseeing other scientists or dictating who gets what labs, resources, etc., I don't really care.

In what possible circumstances would somebody heading high profile reasearch not be making these sorts of decisions? But he did not have that authority in his former position.

[The Brain]

Considering that they literally let an SS officer head rocket science research I think a guy should be safe.

[Valmy]

The guy stood out with the full weight of his "street cred" in science and said "women do not belong in science" then he tried to explain that with "well they could work in science I guess just make sure they are segregated".

This is not a blurry statement blown out of proportion by the usual (and cringeworthy) social justice crowd. This is a major blunder, a highly derogatory statement, which you either distance yourself from, or agree with it. The guy just didn't leave any middle ground.

I completely agree. I am not defending him in any way.

[Valmy]

Considering that they literally let an SS officer head rocket science research I think a guy should be safe.

Different times. Besides that was hardly common knowledge at the time

[derspiess]

This isn't about an overreaction because we have estrogen. This is insanely wrong on every possible level.

Second sentence sorta contradicts the first.  I mean, *insanely* wrong?  You can't simply disagree with anyone these days-- they have to be insanely wrong.

Anyway, do you honestly think his statement, bad joke, or whatever it was will deter women from entering the field of science?  If so, then making this big a deal out of it did more damage than his original statement, which only would have been heard by a select few.

[merithyn]

So long as he's not in any way overseeing other scientists or dictating who gets what labs, resources, etc., I don't really care.

In what possible circumstances would somebody heading high profile reasearch not be making these sorts of decisions? But he did not have that authority in his former position.

If he worked in a lab, doing his own research, and didn't have the authority to say who got what resources or lab time, then I don't mind if he did what he did and kept his job. Was censored, of course, but kept his job. But his thinking is that women don't belong in Science. Under those circumstances, he can't be allowed to dictate how resources are allocated. He simply can't be trusted to do so fairly based on skill and research if he's willing to stand in front of a room full of women Scientists and tell them they shouldn't be in labs with men.

He lost his job because he was a talking head for the University, and he stood up in front of a room full of women Scientists and told them they shouldn't be in labs with men.

I'm baffled that this isn't cut and dried.

[Valmy]

I'm baffled that this isn't cut and dried.

Because it isn't? What you are saying is very specific to this circumstance and not some standard procedure that happens whenever somebody says something horrible. At least that is my impression.

If he worked in a lab, doing his own research, and didn't have the authority to say who got what resources or lab time, then I don't mind if he did what he did and kept his job.

Which is impossible. If he was doing his own research he would have a grant that he would be responsible for spending.

[merithyn]

Second sentence sorta contradicts the first.  I mean, *insanely* wrong?  You can't simply disagree with anyone these days-- they have to be insanely wrong.

As a representative of the University, he did the exact opposite of what he was sent to do. I'm not sure how saying that he should keep his job is even on the table.

Anyway, do you honestly think his statement, bad joke, or whatever it was will deter women from entering the field of science?  If so, then making this big a deal out of it did more damage than his original statement, which only would have been heard by a select few.

He made the statements to a room full of journalists. He knew he was in a room full of journalists when he made his statements. And he came back the next day and said that he was "just being honest" that he believed that women shouldn't be in labs with men. A Nobel Prize winner.

Yeah, I'm going to go with this might deter women from entering the field of science. Why go into a field where the top-most Scientists are allowed to say those things and no one bats an eye? Had it been ignored by the university. Had it been laughed off or otherwise condoned, that sends a message that if women do go into science, they will get zero support.

Not to say that all women would react that way, because against general opinion estrogen doesn't make us all the same person, but enough will to make it a problem. And it's already a problem that women don't go into sciences. Enough so that there are conferences to try to encourage them to do so. Conferences like the one this guy attended and made such awful statements.