Now there’s a phrase you don’t see too often.

I left academia (physics undergrad, astro PhD, a couple of postdocs) 10 years ago this month. I used to feel guilty about letting the side down, but I really appreciate the more reasonable working hours (a life outside my job!) and the relative lack of sexism in IT versus academia.

And most of the American physics professors I’ve had are not into memorization, either. They would prefer you remember the few foundational equations and be able to derive what you need from them. Basic science, especially for kids, shouldn’t be about memorization anyway. That’s the place to give them the Oh, ah! science and ask them to really think about what’s happening. They can memorize F=ma in high school.

I don’t feel in the least guilty for spending my days explicating plays instead of sequencing DNA. Nor is writing books and articles ‘easier’ than doing bench work. Same game, different cards.

I’m concerned about the pressure to push women into low-achieving positions, particularly when it’s so they can do a “Woman’s Real Job” which is be a prop to a male ego.

But I”m also concerned about the tendency to see intellectual challenges as residing only in numbers and memorization: it narrows the scope of the wider world for everyone. Most of my students sleepwalk through writing and thinking on the grounds that it must be easy, because English (or History, or Philosophy) is for the stupid.

Are unrealistic standards women put on themselves, or are different standards applied to men and women? I know I have personally felt the pressure to be a perfectionist, but I’ve been in plenty of situations where male ‘B’ students have received departmental and faculty support where ‘A’ female students get largely marginalized and ignored.

My first reading of the livescience article I felt like they were trying to place all of the blame on women’s ‘perfectionism’ in a system where women have to perform significantly better than men for the same amount of recognition.

Yes, I am a little bitter about this subject, because a STEM career/job is something I’ve worked hard for, but I still get told ‘you don’t have the skills, but you’re cute and we’d love it if you answer our phones!’

Isn’t she a barista or mixologist these days? That’s kinda like a job in science, so it’s good that her math and science background are so strong.”

Chris, trying to be an asshole? Or just succeeding as one in spite of yourself?…

As a grad student that became single during my grad program, I found the pressure to date one of my fellow graduate students shocking, and especially loathesome once everyone started talking about the two-body-problem.

‘Why did you let me into this school? Oh, to date one of your socially inept boy geniuses? Wait, what happens when we graduate and get post-docs at different places? Oh yeah, I get it, I’m the girl, I’m not supposed to graduate! Right! Got it, I’ll keep slaving away at this education then.’