{"id":25672,"date":"2020-01-20T12:14:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-20T17:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/?p=25672"},"modified":"2020-01-20T12:59:01","modified_gmt":"2020-01-20T17:59:01","slug":"advocacy-for-women-is-a-sign-of-racism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2020\/01\/20\/advocacy-for-women-is-a-sign-of-racism\/","title":{"rendered":"Advocacy for women is a sign of racism?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Emailed to me by the MIT Powers that Be… “Women in mathematics aim for an equal sign”<\/a> (MIT School of Science news):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is crucial to recruit and attract more women at all levels in the department, but also that more of our women math majors consider going into graduate school in mathematics,\u201d says Michel Goemans, department head and professor of mathematics. \u201cLast year only 13 percent of our graduate applicants were women, and this is clearly not enough. The department is happy to support the activities of the MIT Women in Mathematics, and this group helps create a vibrant, supportive community in which more and more female students might pursue or continue a career in mathematics.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

[Let’s ignore the issue of whether this say-gooder is guilty of promoting gender binarism<\/a>. Let’s also ignore the issue of why the say-gooder does not use MIT’s massive endowment to become a “do-gooder” and hire the women that he\/she\/ze\/they says he\/she\/ze\/they wants to hire.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wonder if the focus on female victimhood is a sign of antipathy toward mathematicians of color. Why not focus on the underrepresentation of black and Hispanic mathematicians, for example? Could the motivation be that the white\/Asian mathematicians would rather share an office with a white woman from a wealthy family than share with an African-American from the ghetto?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advocating for “women” is less likely to expose the advocate to ridicule for not having any friends or relatives who are in the featured victim class. Since even the most hidebound human who identifies as a “man” is likely to have a mother and\/or sister, there won’t be the awkward search for a friend of color with whom to attend Black Panther<\/em> and get a selfie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article is also fun for revealing the existence of gender traitors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staffilani recalls that when she invited female mathematicians to speak with MIT women, sometimes the offer was declined. Invited academics preferred to be seen as \u201cmathematicians\u201d rather than be singled out as \u201cfemale mathematicians,\u201d separate from men. It\u2019s a dilemma Staffilani says she understands; gaining extra notice as a woman \u2014 or any underrepresented group in a particular field \u2014 doesn\u2019t feel like \u201cequality,\u201d she says. … she was surprised when a female physicist asked the room, \u201cWhy do we want diversity?\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Speaker of diversity, let’s have a look at the folks MIT has selected to teach subjects featured on the “Women’s Studies” poster board in the Infinite Corridor (if you visit the teachers’ biographical pages, you’ll find them referred to using “her” and “she” as pronouns):<\/p>\n\n\n\n