STEM fields vs. gender studies comic - image

[Jon]

I see the comic as commenting on the current hot debate in academia: constructionism vs. determinism.

Why are more men engineers? Why are more women nurses? Is it because of social constructs that our society has created? Or is it because of innate biological differences? Does "diversity" mean numerically equal representation of different social/racial/economic/biological identity groups? Or does "diversity" mean that different kinds of people are better or worse at different kinds of things?

In context in elite academia (all of these examples involve Harvard teachers or alumni):

-Was it right to push Dr. Larry Summers out of the presidency of Harvard because he said that there are innate intellectual aptitude differences between men and women, and that's why we see more men at BOTH the high and low ends of aptitude distribution (essentially a flatter distribution curve)?

-Should Dr. James Watson, a co-discoverer of DNA and Nobel Prize winner, have been shunned for claiming that racial disparities in aptitude testing have a genetic basis? So much so that he sold his Nobel Prize in protest?

-Why was Dr. Charles Murray branded a hate extremist by the Southern Poverty Law Center, for claiming that human intelligence is strongly influenced by genetic factors?

-Why was Dr. Allison Stanger beaten and brain damaged by a mob of 74 students at Middlebury College, simply for hosting Dr. Murray? Dr. Stanger said that the SPLC "hate" characterization of Dr. Murray was wrong; they had pull-quoted him out of context, and the students didn't bother to research it for themselves.

Now the social tide is shifting. SPLC is embroiled in various defamation litigation over their "hate group" characterizations. Harvard is defending a lawsuit brought by Asian-Americans for allegedly employing racial quotas against them in the admissions process.

I see the comic as mocking the social constructionist view in favor of the determinist view. The women walk right by the STEM table; why? Because there was a man there, and they're not men? I get it, but that's not a great reason. Even in a perfectly 50/50 gender split field, there's a 50/50 chance that a randomly selected booth attendant would be either male or female.

The issue with the first reason (social constructionism) for explaining why there are more men in STEM fields is that it carries a tacit accusation against men: that men have done something morally or ethically wrong to deter women from participating in their fields. An accusation like that requires an amount of evidence that I have not yet seen.

I agree with mklotz on segregation. Arts are critically important to every society, but STEM is not STEAM for the same reason that Arts/Music/Theatre is not Arts/Music/Physics/Theatre. I like ice cream, and I like pizza - equally. But ice cream is not a pizza topping.

[ednja]

Gender Studies should be banned. It's evil globalist/socialist/liberal crap that's biased against men.

[mklotz]

Gender Studies should be banned. It's evil globalist/socialist/liberal crap that's biased against men.

If you believe Facebook, there are 58 genders...

https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlin...acebook-users/

Must make it hard to decide. Cue Kermit, "It's not easy being queer."

If some of those terms are unknown to you, here's a gender dictionary...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/transge...erms-glossary/

[Jon]

If you believe Facebook, there are 58 genders...

https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlin...acebook-users/

WTF, this is real. Just logged into my FB for the first time in a while. There it is under About==>Contact and Basic Info==>Gender. You set the dropdown to "Custom", but that doesn't list all of the options. Then you have to type in a letter, and various gender options will autocomplete. Honestly I thought there were only one or two in addition to male and female. Like maybe "trans" or "unspecified"; that's perfectly fine. But Two-spirit? And Neutrois?

[mklotz]

Here in California, the land of fruits and nuts, we have a few more categories that need to be added to the list:

One size fits all
Self-pollinating
Spore-spitter
Fruit-bearing

[Toolmaker51]

If you believe Facebook, there are 58 genders...
<snipped>

Yep there are 58; so far. . .
When you [facebook for example] attempt catering to everyone, you're certain to alienate an important population.

Correlating genders with identities only suits those confused by nature.
Nature will provide certain creatures a means to change genders when too few of one exist for propagation [ie California marine sheephead [Semicossyphus pulcher] a protogynous hermaphrodite https://www.cabrillomarineaquarium.o...ife.asp?id=108 ] It's not wasted on social identity.
Granted, seahorses perform the opposite roles, with the male carrying the pregnancy. But they remain male.

Why do parties create separate identities cleaving them from mainstream, effectively segregating themselves; then bemoan the denigration? That is by CHOICE, which is not the same as having BEEN segregated.

Removing every shred of plumbing from a house, won't remove it from the tax rolls of real property. But you create an uncomfortable dwelling.
Putting a carburetor on the roof won't make it a vehicle. Just a pointless addition, not an alteration.

There are 2 genders; whether mammal, avian, piscine, reptilian or any species commonly defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction
Thank you wikipedia.