I've heard it all before
Dec. 11th, 2013 08:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gryphonseggOkay, so sexist idiots on tumblr (no, I DON’T feel like be charitable to them tonight) are once again asserting that women “don’t want anything to do with science” and “don’t want to go near a science class,” and most of the women who try to major in STEM fields “will drop out without getting a degree,” and that all of this has absolutely nothing to do with sexism, and this is evidence that feminism is bad because feminists want to “force” women to take STEM classes, which women just inexplicably hate for no reason.
I’ve wanted to be scientist since sometime in elementary school, despite being surrounded by people telling me that I couldn’t do it, shouldn’t try, should be ashamed of myself for even wanting to try, and would never make it. Now I have a degree. I have two degrees. I’m working toward a doctorate. I need to take a statistics course in another department. I took a course a my previous university that might or might not fill the pre-requirements for the course I want to take here. One of my (male) labmates is in the same situation, having taken a stats course at another university which might or might not have covered the material he’ll need to know to start the new stats course in the spring. We both need permission from the (male) professor in the other department who is teaching the course we both want to take. That male professor asked my male labmate to send him a copy of the syllabus from the earlier course at the other university, judged that my male labmate is adequately prepared to take his course in the spring, and gave him permission. The same male professor told me that the course would be too difficult for me and didn’t ask to see a syllabus or anything. My options are a) signing up for a less advanced stats course and hoping the professor will then give me permission to take the course I actually want in 2015 or b) going to the psychology department and getting permission to take their statistics course, which does not cover all the same topics but teaches enough of the same analytical methods that I should be able to get by with it, while teaching myself the rest of what I need to know from the library.
I’m in no mood to deal with that bullshit tonight.
Oh, and in case you're one of my longtime followers and you were wondering, my "Yeah, I was born with a uterus, but is it really honest to refer to myself as ~female~ or ~a woman~ when I've never ~felt like a real woman is supposed to feel~" phase is over. Being unapologetic, even defiant, about being female is the only thing that allows me to get through life in the real world.
I’ve wanted to be scientist since sometime in elementary school, despite being surrounded by people telling me that I couldn’t do it, shouldn’t try, should be ashamed of myself for even wanting to try, and would never make it. Now I have a degree. I have two degrees. I’m working toward a doctorate. I need to take a statistics course in another department. I took a course a my previous university that might or might not fill the pre-requirements for the course I want to take here. One of my (male) labmates is in the same situation, having taken a stats course at another university which might or might not have covered the material he’ll need to know to start the new stats course in the spring. We both need permission from the (male) professor in the other department who is teaching the course we both want to take. That male professor asked my male labmate to send him a copy of the syllabus from the earlier course at the other university, judged that my male labmate is adequately prepared to take his course in the spring, and gave him permission. The same male professor told me that the course would be too difficult for me and didn’t ask to see a syllabus or anything. My options are a) signing up for a less advanced stats course and hoping the professor will then give me permission to take the course I actually want in 2015 or b) going to the psychology department and getting permission to take their statistics course, which does not cover all the same topics but teaches enough of the same analytical methods that I should be able to get by with it, while teaching myself the rest of what I need to know from the library.
I’m in no mood to deal with that bullshit tonight.
Oh, and in case you're one of my longtime followers and you were wondering, my "Yeah, I was born with a uterus, but is it really honest to refer to myself as ~female~ or ~a woman~ when I've never ~felt like a real woman is supposed to feel~" phase is over. Being unapologetic, even defiant, about being female is the only thing that allows me to get through life in the real world.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-12-14 07:33 am (UTC)It's awful that your prof has that double standard. I'd suggest insisting on showing him your syllabus (and maybe enlisting help from your department), but honestly--if he's got that kind of attitude, it might be better to go the psych + self-study route and not have to deal with him at all. Sucks regardless, though, good luck. :-/
(no subject)
Date: 2013-12-16 04:10 am (UTC)Actually, the psych department option is out. The guy who teaches that class not only told me flat-out that he won't give me permission, he was so rude about it that I'd be extremely hesitant to take any course with him in the future, no matter what the circumstances are. I really don't deal well with teachers/professors who blatantly dislike me, and the psych stats guy seemed to take an instant dislike to me in a way that no professor has in years. So . . . I guess I'll be taking what's effectively a remedial class. I'm not happy about it, but . . . I have to move forward somehow, even if it's by a slower path than I would like.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-12-16 10:32 am (UTC)