"Who Looks Like A Scientist?"

"The thing is, though, it’s not just kids, or the general public who have the wrong image of scientists. It’s scientists as well. We love to think that science is objective, that people are judged solely on their work, and not anything else. There’s a popular notion that in science you can dress as you are, not according to some dress code, and that that’s a spectacular realization of the egalitarianism of science.

Unfortunately, that’s just not true. When I was a physicist, it was perfectly fine to dress in jeans and a t-shirt, or semi-casual with a button down or something. Anything dressed any other way was treated like an exotic animal. The most striking example I heard, and the moment I realized physics wasn’t free from bias, was at dinner at a conference. A very senior physicist at the table pointed over to an assistant professor in a dress and heels and casually said, “It must be easy to be able to sleep your way into a tenure-track job.”...

The problem with the myth of objectivity is that to make it a reality you have to work at getting rid of the biases, not just assume that you have. That assumption leads us to missing the work of women because we can’t get past the clothing they wear; it leads to the near invisibility of scientists of color, and again, us missing out on the work they do. It is a rather extraordinary loss for science."

http://tumblr.benlillie.com/post/117254053167/who-looks-like-a-scientist

So tired of people who don't think science has a problem. So happy with white male scientists who see it; so happy they made the effort.