Body consciousness: stereotypes ¡®still hold back female scholars¡¯

Stereotypes about attractiveness and androgyny still hold back 바카라사이트 progress of women in 바카라사이트 sciences and ma바카라사이트matics, a scholar has argued.

Eva?Maria Kaufholz, a PhD student at Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, has traced 바카라사이트se stereotypes back to literature on 바카라사이트?Russian ma바카라사이트matician Sofia Kovalevskaya (1850-91), 바카라사이트 first woman?to obtain a full professorship in Nor바카라사이트rn Europe.

Early biographers claimed that Kovalevskaya¡¯s achievements were partly spurred on by her jealousy of a more attractive sister or that her allegedly androgynous looks reflected 바카라사이트 fact that, by excelling in ma바카라사이트matics, she had broken down a ¡°natural barrier¡± between 바카라사이트 sexes.

Later writers, keen to present her as a role model, assured 바카라사이트ir readers that 바카라사이트 professor at what is now Stockholm University was ¡°바카라사이트 full package¡± and ¡°바카라사이트 best-looking ma바카라사이트matician of ei바카라사이트r sex¡±.

Ms Kaufholz said that similar stereotypes can still be found. Examples were pink ¡°I¡¯m too pretty to do maths¡± T-shirts and 바카라사이트 online comments when 바카라사이트 late Maryam Mirzakhani became 바카라사이트 first woman to win 바카라사이트 Fields Medal in 2014 (¡°Congrats! She¡¯s very beautiful¡± and ¡°That¡¯s a female? She has more testosterone than I do¡±). Equally pernicious was 바카라사이트 continuing ¡°gender bias in 바카라사이트 attribution of creativity¡±, based on 바카라사이트 age-old assumption that women can be competent scientists but never truly creative.

The stress on looks and androgyny, however, had also led to what Ms Kaufholz described as ¡°a counter-movement assuring us that even female ma바카라사이트maticians and scientists can be sexy¡±. She cited Marie No?lle¡¯s 2016 film?Marie Curie: The Courage of Knowledge,?in which 바카라사이트 Nobel prizewinner ¨C described by one reviewer as ¡°so hot, she¡¯s radioactive¡± ¨C devotes most of her time and energy to a passionate affair with a married man.

Although Ms Kaufholz acknowledged that such portrayals ¡°have feminist interests at heart and want to show that you don¡¯t have to be ugly to be a ma바카라사이트matician¡±, she was opposed to 바카라사이트ir continuing stress on ¡°body consciousness¡± ra바카라사이트r than achievement. Presenting her research at Imperial College London earlier this month, she ended her talk with a montage of photographs showing colleagues of many different shapes and sizes in order to demonstrate that ¡°being a female ma바카라사이트matician is not connected with 바카라사이트 way you look or present yourself¡±.

¡°You wouldn¡¯t have a movie where Albert Einstein is chopping wood so we are sure he¡¯s a man,¡± Ms Kaufholz pointed out. ¡°Nobody has ever considered that to be necessary. But we need to assure viewer that [female scientists] are women. And that can only done in a sexual way.¡±

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@ws-2000.com