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Dianne Williamson: 'Girl' talk not rocket science Comment By Dianne Williamson The Telegram & Gazette DailyTidings.com By Dianne Williamson The Telegram & Gazette Posted Jun. 15, 2015 at 8:27 AM By Dianne Williamson The Telegram & Gazette Posted Jun. 15, 2015 at 8:27 AM » Social News I would never compare the size of my brain to that of a Nobel scientist, but even I would have advised Tim Hunt to refrain from beginning any sentence with “Let me tell you about my trouble with girls.” Outside a local Hooters, in no social setting or known universe is that an encouraging start to a conversation. Especially when you’re addressing the World Conference of Science Journalists, not traditionally known for yucking it up. Especially when you’re talking about female scientists, none of whom have been girls since they aced high school chemistry. Maybe winning a Nobel Prize gives one the illusion of infallibility. Maybe Hunt believed that South Korea is so far away that no one in America would hear what he said. Maybe, at 72, he’s just a sexist British snoot. Hunt’s comments have received lots of attention, mostly because they’re inane and he said them out loud, but also because they underscore the hurdles still faced by women in the workplace, especially in the underrepresented fields of sciences, math and technology. If you haven’t heard, Hunt was speaking to a room of top scientists and science journalists at a global conference in South Korea, when he was inexplicably struck by the sort of self-revelatory confession more suited to drunken single men in late-night bars. “Let me tell you about my trouble with girls,” he said last Monday. “Three things happen when they are in the lab: You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticize them, they cry.” Hunt won a Nobel Prize in 2001 for his work in physiology, which I would explain if not for the fact that I don’t understand it, but he apparently needs schooling in gender equality and perhaps a crash course in How Not To Say Stupid Things When Journalists Are Around. His comments have been universally ridiculed and he has since resigned his honorary position at the University College London, which has gone to great lengths to distance themselves from Hunt, describing him in a statement as “a kind of ketchup.” Meanwhile, lots of girl scientists have posted funny or angry tweets when they’re not sobbing into their test tubes. “Really does this Nobel Laureate think we are still in Victorian times?” wrote Connie St. Louis, director of the science journalism program at City University London. Hunt isn’t the first smart man to say dumb things about women in science — Larry Summers comes immediately to mind — and this latest misogyny outburst only shows that gender bias is alive and well and apparently flourishing in petri dishes throughout the world. While strides have been made, some point to this bias to explain why women make up only 24 percent of the people in science, technology, engineering and mathematics professions, according to a 2011 analysis by the United States Department of Commerce. Following a media backlash, Hunt has issued the sort of lame apology consistent with people who fail to hire high-powered public relations firms. “I’m really sorry I said what I said,” he told BBC Radio 4. “It was a very stupid thing to do in the presence of all those journalists. What was intended is a lighthearted ironic comment.” Then, as further proof that this guy doesn’t know when to shut up, he added, “I did mean the part about having trouble with girls. It’s terribly important that you can criticize people’s ideas without criticizing them, and if they burst into tears, it means that you tend to hold back from getting at the absolute truth. Science is about nothing but getting at the truth.” Hunt is absolutely right, and many fields are about getting at the truth, including journalism. That’s why it’s a problem when my female colleagues blubber uncontrollably after the editor adjusts a comma. Why, just last week I bawled over my keyboard because a reader strongly implied that I happen to be an idiot. In fact, workplaces around the world are rife with swooning, sobbing females. It’s a wonder we get any work done at all. Anyway, maybe Hunt did us a favor by bringing this problem into the open. He’s certainly fearless to say such things. In fact, now that I think about it, I believe I’m in love. Darn — I hate when that happens. Dianne Williamson writes for The Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette. By Dianne Williamson The Telegram & Gazette DailyTidings.com By Dianne Williamson The Telegram & Gazette Posted Jun. 15, 2015 at 8:27 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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