Great thread, Pat.
I've never followed feminist theory, so I'm not sure what the "second
wave"
is (LInnea, thanks for the URL--I'll add it to the women in bio web page
) .
But I can tell you my experience coming of age as a feminist.
In my youth, I never liked the term feminist since it was so loaded with
bad
connotations. You know--feminists are all shrews, bitchy, lesbians....
they
just didn't seem very relevant to a nerdy student who thought science
was
a meritocracy. I was an undergrad at Berkeley in the early '80s, and
I found the campus very polarized (it was the era of the campus Young
Republicans, conflicting with that good old Berkeley
progressivism and occassionally ridiculous political correctness) so I
stuck to my
science. Besides, all the battles were won, right?
WRONG, of course. Increasingly in grad school, then as a postdoc, now
as a
professor, I realized the battles have just moved underground and like
any guerilla warfare, they are fought with frightening intensity. Maybe
it's
because at each stage, I found fewer women, and more barriers. Needless
to say, I now embrace the title "feminist", and celebrate the movement.
I continue to be amazed at the women I meet who are tiptoeing around,
afraid
the men will get mad at them and send them away if they demand their
rights. I smile wryly at the young women who, just as I did, figure
that
it's all based on merit and consider we are all fighting old wars.
I have been told that my outspokeness on this group, as well as
elsewhere, is
viewed as "militant" and may hurt my career.
But we have to work to create a profession, and a society, that
welcomes
everyone's participation regardless of how they "conform" to outmoded
and
unnecessary standars. OTherwise, the potential of women and minority
scientists will be hobbled, and many great contributions will be lost.
Meanwhile, don't underestimate the backlash against us. There are
a LOT of anti-feminism web sites that demonize us--all of us.
(Check out http://www.equityfeminism.com/, for example--which
even belongs to an anti-feminism ring. Clever name, isn't it?). They
are
scary, and some of them are probably in Congress.
The battle continues.
--susan
--
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Use the one below (replaced AT with @)
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The Salk Institute
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