no. go away.

[kaberett]

"Stemettes" is an absolutely terrible term to use for female undergraduates in STEM fields. No. Wow. Inarticulate fury.

Comments

[kaberett]

like, WHY YES LET US SIMULTANEOUSLY INFANTILISE AND SEXUALISE OUR FEMALE STUDENTS WHILE CLAIMING TO BE GIVING THEM SUPPORTIVE CAREER ADVICE

[rmc28]

Excuse me while I get out my fucking pompoms and cheerleader skirt to explain physics.

[rmc28]

O. M. G.

[kaberett]

LOOK AT THIS BULLSHIT

[geekette8.livejournal.com]

WTAF?

It's actually even worse than that, since it says at the top "Stemette (n): a female who has the capacity to go into one or more of the STEM fields".

1. A female what?
2. CAPACITY??? They make it sound like this a very rare thing, that "a female" would have such an amazing capacity... OMG I am going to punch someone.

[kaberett]

I am trying to work out if I am in a good enough place brainwise to be able to write an e-mail to them explaining why everything about their initiative is horrifying. Unfortunately I strongly suspect that they're invested enough in this branding that they won't bloody change anything even in the face of ~cogent reasoned evidence-based argument~.

[geekette8.livejournal.com]

Also I now feel the need to go and change my livejournal username in case anyone actually takes it as a Thing I Actually Meant Like That. Oh arse.

[kaberett]

Honestly that hadn't occurred to me? IDK.

[sidheag]

It's like when people give their babies names you hate, though... the names pretty soon just become the people. But it *had* occurred to me to wonder how you came to choose it, I confess.

[geekette8.livejournal.com]

I originally created the account when I was ttc / pg with Matthew because I wanted a place to journal privately about stuff. I didn't really expect anything to come of the account and I spent about 3 seconds coming up with the name. The 8 was my house number at the time because someone else already had "geekette", and ISTR the original thought in my head was a cross between a geek and a soubrette, intended in a very ironic way! Sigh.

[sidheag]

Ah!

[davidgillon]

*headdesk* *headdesk* *headdesk*

Sadly I know lots of people in STEM (all male, needless to say) who would look at that and say 'Wow, brilliant!'

*headdesk*

[sidheag]

Eewwww.

[kaberett]

This is what WiSETI is for! This is what Springboard is for! IT IS NOT HARD TO DO THIS IN WAYS THAT AREN'T DISGUSTING.

[rjw76]

I found Springboard quite patronising, actually... (but not as patronising as stemettes. Ye gods and little fishes.)

[kaberett]

Oh I agree it's patronising, I just think it's evidence that you can be incredibly patronising and still LESS BAD THAN THIS.

[legionseagle]

If a novel published in 1935 can have a character pointing out that "women students" is a more seemly term than "undergraduettes", the penny ought to have dropped by 2014.

[cadenzamuse]

+1 MILLION

SEEBLE!

[onyxlynx]

Gaudy NIght, no? And the character got as patronizing an answer as the term under discussion.

Obviously the penny needs to drop from a very great height, and onto some heads. Multiple times.

Re: SEEBLE!

[legionseagle]

Gaudy Night indeed. And comments about "Sweet Girl Graduates". But it was eighty years ago; I had hoped things might have improved a bit.

[spiralsheep]

Stemettes

That's actually so bad it's funny, y'know, or enraging... one of those.

[cosmolinguist]

...

[aella_irene]

What the hell?

[emperor]

Whisky Tango flying Foxtrot?!?

[legionseagle]

Whisky Tango HOLY Foxtrot, at that.

[nanila]

Received an e-mail requesting help with event related to this earlier this week.

DELETED

[kaberett]

received e-mail advertising it today

ANGRY BLOG POST

[raze]

That website, holy shit. x_x

[batrachian]

NOT ENOUGH FIRE. IN THE WORLD.

[legionseagle]

It makes them sound like a doo-wop band of the early 1960s.

[forthwritten]

Fire seems too reasonable tbh.

[onyxlynx]

A little brimstone, maybe?

[vass]

*loud, inarticulate Hulk roar*

[jesse_the_k]

Yes that is wrong all the way around the globe and out to Alpha Centauri.

Also, in the US they're still using "co-ed" for female students even though women outnumber men in higher ed and have done for a decade.

[birke]

I hate co-ed/coed so much. So much.

[umadoshi]

So. Much. EW. And also WTF?

[birke]

"We're very social" Aren't we, girls? We just love to chit-chat while we pipette! :)