Women don't belong in labs (or science) according to an old man.
Royal Society Fellow and 72 year-old Nobel laureate, Tim Hunt, is currently at the center of a big controversy for his remarks about women in science and the 'trouble' they have been having in STEM in general while at a lunch conference in Korea hosted for female scientists and engineers.
He claims that the trouble women have been experiencing in science can be reduced to three points:
1. Men fall in love with women.
2. Women fall in love with men.
3. Women cry when criticised.
He believes that these three things threaten and undermine the science in lab and education settings and because of this he believes that gender segregation is the solution.
This is another high-profile example of disparaging comments about women from people supposedly smart enough to know better. As well as being generally offensive, Hunt’s comments also don’t stand up to logical scrutiny. Humans lack the power to consciously make someone fall in love with them, it's not the fault of the women rather the men. Also, if large numbers of people always “cry when criticised”, then you’re doing criticism wrong. If someone always blisters when you burn them, that’s not a sign of incompetence on their part.
But Hunt does have a good point in spite of himself; science would be better off all round if certain people were kept out of labs. And those people are old men. Here’s why.
Old men are too belligerent
Science is, above all, a communal effort but collaboration is much harder to achieve and maintain when you’ve got someone involved who can’t stop spouting offensive views or being antagonistic to the people whose help and support is integral.Tim Hunt is just the most recent example. Look up any controversy or offensive opinion these days, and 95% of the time it comes from an old man. These people simply cannot be relied upon to engender the spirit of teamwork and mutual respect that is essential for conducting long-term complex research projects for the betterment of humanity. They clearly don’t even like humanity that much.Science would be much better off if old men were left out of it and restricted to places where their outdated and offensive views were less disruptive.
Old men are bad at science
If you look at the data, it is difficult to argue that old men are just bad at science. Even if they’re high-achievers, they still often come out with unscientific guff, and a look at any list of scientific scandals shows it’s mostly older men who are behind them.Also, the numbers don’t lie. There is a growing concern that most of the research findings published today are false, and most professors and research leaders are old men. So if we have mostly poor science and mostly old male science leads, this must mean that old men are poor at science. Logic, that is. They should be removed from the environment so other more-competent people can take over, namely, women.
Old men don’t handle criticism well
Tim Hunt criticised female scientists because they “always cry” when criticised. While this would be somewhat disruptive if true (which it isn’t), this is still a far less problematic response than holding an intense lifelong grudge against someone who criticised you, and doing your best to make their life difficult and miserable. Anyone who’s dares to criticise a prominent old male scientist should brace themselves for this sort of treatment.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33077107
He claims that the trouble women have been experiencing in science can be reduced to three points:
1. Men fall in love with women.
2. Women fall in love with men.
3. Women cry when criticised.
He believes that these three things threaten and undermine the science in lab and education settings and because of this he believes that gender segregation is the solution.
This is another high-profile example of disparaging comments about women from people supposedly smart enough to know better. As well as being generally offensive, Hunt’s comments also don’t stand up to logical scrutiny. Humans lack the power to consciously make someone fall in love with them, it's not the fault of the women rather the men. Also, if large numbers of people always “cry when criticised”, then you’re doing criticism wrong. If someone always blisters when you burn them, that’s not a sign of incompetence on their part.
But Hunt does have a good point in spite of himself; science would be better off all round if certain people were kept out of labs. And those people are old men. Here’s why.
Old men are too belligerent
Science is, above all, a communal effort but collaboration is much harder to achieve and maintain when you’ve got someone involved who can’t stop spouting offensive views or being antagonistic to the people whose help and support is integral.Tim Hunt is just the most recent example. Look up any controversy or offensive opinion these days, and 95% of the time it comes from an old man. These people simply cannot be relied upon to engender the spirit of teamwork and mutual respect that is essential for conducting long-term complex research projects for the betterment of humanity. They clearly don’t even like humanity that much.Science would be much better off if old men were left out of it and restricted to places where their outdated and offensive views were less disruptive.
Old men are bad at science
If you look at the data, it is difficult to argue that old men are just bad at science. Even if they’re high-achievers, they still often come out with unscientific guff, and a look at any list of scientific scandals shows it’s mostly older men who are behind them.Also, the numbers don’t lie. There is a growing concern that most of the research findings published today are false, and most professors and research leaders are old men. So if we have mostly poor science and mostly old male science leads, this must mean that old men are poor at science. Logic, that is. They should be removed from the environment so other more-competent people can take over, namely, women.
Old men don’t handle criticism well
Tim Hunt criticised female scientists because they “always cry” when criticised. While this would be somewhat disruptive if true (which it isn’t), this is still a far less problematic response than holding an intense lifelong grudge against someone who criticised you, and doing your best to make their life difficult and miserable. Anyone who’s dares to criticise a prominent old male scientist should brace themselves for this sort of treatment.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33077107
(edited 8 years ago)
Scroll to see replies
Original post by *Stefan*
You had to attack ALL old men for what ONE old man said, eh?
lol
Your statement is just as bad as what that guy said.
Original post by *Stefan*
You had to attack ALL old men for what ONE old man said, eh?
#KillAllMen
Original post by Imperion
#KillAllMen
#killallwomen
Spoiler
Why do you just assume the more competent people to take over are solely women? While it's true that these old farts have their prejudices and this man is unbelievably sexist, why not say that the younger, less biased generation should take over? You know, both men and women?
Oh and no, old men should not be kicked out of labs carte blanche. The ones that make stupid remarks and publish bad science should obviously take a step back, but to generalise like this is just wrong.
Oh and no, old men should not be kicked out of labs carte blanche. The ones that make stupid remarks and publish bad science should obviously take a step back, but to generalise like this is just wrong.
Original post by Kadak
Your statement is just as bad as what that guy said.
Nope. His comment is 10 times worse since he is meant to be a role model in fact he gave his sexist speech during a female empowerment in science conference in Korea.
Just goes to show that someone can be smart and ignorant.
All old men should be kept out of labs?
Posted from TSR Mobile
Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by *Stefan*
You had to attack ALL old men for what ONE old man said, eh?
Guardian has got you covered.
http://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2015/jun/10/tim-hunt-old-men-women-controversy-science
Original post by ChaoticButterfly
Guardian has got you covered.
http://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2015/jun/10/tim-hunt-old-men-women-controversy-science
http://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2015/jun/10/tim-hunt-old-men-women-controversy-science
Oh wow...
Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by *Stefan*
Let TSR burn, mwwwuuuhhhhaaaaa
"And yes, it is true that Tim Hunt has since said his comments were “meant to be humorous”. As an added bonus, why not check the comments below for people furiously arguing that this a complete vindication of Hunt’s comments while simultaneously taking this ridiculous joke article 100% seriously. People are fun like that."
(edited 8 years ago)
OP just copied and pasted a joke article from The Guardian
LAME!
LAME!
**** what this guys says. I am gonna work in a lab and there's plenty of successful women who do,especially as biomedical scientists.
Also what is with all this #killallmen and #killallwomen? Nobody is a threat and we should all see each other as equals rather than try to belittle men.
Also what is with all this #killallmen and #killallwomen? Nobody is a threat and we should all see each other as equals rather than try to belittle men.
Original post by queen-bee
**** what this guys says. I am gonna work in a lab and there's plenty of successful women who do,especially as biomedical scientists.
Also what is with all this #killallmen and #killallwomen? Nobody is a threat and we should all see each other as equals rather than try to belittle men.
Also what is with all this #killallmen and #killallwomen? Nobody is a threat and we should all see each other as equals rather than try to belittle men.
He stated that women and men should work in serperate labs. He didnt say women should be banned from them completely.
Females pls.
Original post by saeed97
He stated that women and men should work in serperate labs. He didnt say women should be banned from them completely.
Females pls.
Females pls.
There's no need for that bull****.
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