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‘I believed I didn't have the right kind of brain for science’

theguardian.com

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Re: ‘I believed I didn't have the right kind of brain for science’

#11

Post by ryacko »

burfog wrote: post #10

You do have the right kind of brain for science. Even healthy brains are desired. https://braindonorproject.org/ https://www.brainsupportnetwork.org/brain-donation/ https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/research_progress/br... https://hbtrc.mclean.harvard.edu/donate/ I love how the NIH explains things: "As an organ donor, you agree to give your organs to other people to help keep them alive. As a brain donor, your…

And there are so many stories about science donations disrespecting the donors intentions.

Reuters did a series on it:

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-bodi...

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-body...

Re: ‘I believed I didn't have the right kind of brain for science’

#12

Post by vecter »

killjoywashere wrote: post #5

> by the time she reached Harvard, hoping to study medicine, she was so far behind that “I couldn’t even take a remedial math class” Wat? How'd she get into Harvard then? Legacy admission?

Many people who go to Harvard aren't great at math. After all, there are so many other fields of study outside of STEM.

Re: ‘I believed I didn't have the right kind of brain for science’

#13

Post by areoform »

It is hard to do the things you love when you aren't wanted. Setting aside the statistics for a moment, imagine being a teenage girl and overhearing boys talk about how girls are dumb. Brainless machines of no consequence. That women can't code or contribute much in fields like math. "They just don't have the brain for it."

These moments stay with you and they impede you at moments when you need to be free. They push you away from being the best version of you that you can be.

Re: ‘I believed I didn't have the right kind of brain for science’

#14

Post by Doubl »

areoform wrote: post #13

It is hard to do the things you love when you aren't wanted. Setting aside the statistics for a moment, imagine being a teenage girl and overhearing boys talk about how girls are dumb. Brainless machines of no consequence. That women can't code or contribute much in fields like math. "They just don't have the brain for it." These moments stay with you and they impede you at moments when you need to be free. They push…

Everyone gets knocked down and women are just as good at doing the knocking down.

Re: ‘I believed I didn't have the right kind of brain for science’

#15

Post by DogLover_ »

areoform wrote: post #13

It is hard to do the things you love when you aren't wanted. Setting aside the statistics for a moment, imagine being a teenage girl and overhearing boys talk about how girls are dumb. Brainless machines of no consequence. That women can't code or contribute much in fields like math. "They just don't have the brain for it." These moments stay with you and they impede you at moments when you need to be free. They push…

True, but it is no different for boys these days. Not wanted by teachers and they see that girls just get better grades leaving many uninspired to pursuit greater.

Re: ‘I believed I didn't have the right kind of brain for science’

#16

Post by jakubp »

Doubl wrote: post #14
areoform wrote: post #13

It is hard to do the things you love when you aren't wanted. Setting aside the statistics for a moment, imagine being a teenage girl and overhearing boys talk about how girls are dumb. Brainless machines of no consequence. That women can't code or contribute much in fields like math. "They just don't have the brain for it." These moments stay with you and they impede you at moments when you need to be free. They push…

Everyone gets knocked down and women are just as good at doing the knocking down.

The point is we've identified gender is used to knock people down a lot, that this particular angle seems to have little basis in fact, and so are trying to make people aware to stop this particular angle.

If we find more systematic ways in which people are getting knocked down, we should probably work on those, too.

Re: ‘I believed I didn't have the right kind of brain for science’

#17

Post by layoutIfNeeded »

areoform wrote: post #13

It is hard to do the things you love when you aren't wanted. Setting aside the statistics for a moment, imagine being a teenage girl and overhearing boys talk about how girls are dumb. Brainless machines of no consequence. That women can't code or contribute much in fields like math. "They just don't have the brain for it." These moments stay with you and they impede you at moments when you need to be free. They push…

Strange, when I was a kid adults had the opposite attitude towards us.

Boys were considered inherently mischievous, prone to cheating or making shortcuts, and always up to no good, while girls were considered rule-abiding, smart and hard-working.

Re: ‘I believed I didn't have the right kind of brain for science’

#18

Post by Doubl »

jakubp wrote: post #16
Doubl wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone gets knocked down and women are just as good at doing the knocking down.

The point is we've identified gender is used to knock people down a lot, that this particular angle seems to have little basis in fact, and so are trying to make people aware to stop this particular angle. If we find more systematic ways in which people are getting knocked down, we should probably work on those, too.

The cure today, which is the enforcement of a set of beliefs on pain of shunning or job loss, is worse than the disease. For example the Connie St Louis fiasco

Re: ‘I believed I didn't have the right kind of brain for science’

#19

Post by lruor »

areoform wrote: post #13

It is hard to do the things you love when you aren't wanted. Setting aside the statistics for a moment, imagine being a teenage girl and overhearing boys talk about how girls are dumb. Brainless machines of no consequence. That women can't code or contribute much in fields like math. "They just don't have the brain for it." These moments stay with you and they impede you at moments when you need to be free. They push…

>imagine being a teenage girl and overhearing boys talk about how girls are dumb

What do you think girls think and say of boys? This is just stupid (and incorrect) victimism, directed at a gender, when the other one acts the same.

Someone using that argument is either 1) completely unaware of the experiences of the other gender or 2) being dishonest.

Re: ‘I believed I didn't have the right kind of brain for science’

#20

Post by eecc »

I need to finish the article but let me leave a “reaction post” here just for starters... that Strumia guy - the misogynist Italian physicist - is a tool. The prototypical socially disabled person that compensates for their ineptitude by digging themselves into a trench of books. I’m male, but having studied engineering I had the displeasure to bump into examples a couple times; and it left marks.
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