Right here! Glad to see it blogged about more. The AASWomen thing (CSWA)was the email list I'm on. There was also another comment about another (male) collegue expressing discomfort over the trend towards "booth babes" by commercial industries at technical conferences and trade shows.

They certainly don't have a cohesive corporate statement on this, do they? I don't know when the Marcy emails occurred, but as of the 14th, the Assoc. Dir. at CfA, Nancy Brickhouse ,got the following back from a second complaint she emailed, wherein she asked if she would need to ban the catalogs on the grounds of harassment :

Marisa Edmund, VP of Marketing, responded the same day, ``Thank you for your feedback. I will be sure to review your comments and concerns with the CEO and entire EO team. We have significantly changed our marketing campaigns moving forward and hope you will find them more appropriate.''

I still can't believe...well, yeah, I can. It's just so stupid.

I can see that, Connie. Most definitely.

It's a context thing, for me, in this particular environment, I was terribly embarassed by it, and if I was meeting with one of the scientists and it was on the table in an office, it'd make me pretty uncomfortable.

I keep wanting to add that I'm no prude, which also bothers me. I mean, you know I'm not, but I keep feeling like I need a qualifier or something.

It just seems so out of place. If they were selling a conference venue to scientists, and had pretty people in bathing suits slounging around a pool as part of their graphics, I'd think nothing of it. But having this woman slounging next to their device (which suddenly looks a little phallic) is just...weird.

It perpetuates a climate that is still a big issue, especially in the fields that company targets. I've been witness to it far too many times, and seen careers get stuck because of that climate.

Sure, that woman may be the most brilliant thing since Einstein, but that's not what that ad is about. That ad is trying to sell technical by using her sex appeal. Yeah, you can have sex appeal and be brilliant. That's not the point. Sex appeal is not the point of an optical thingmawhatzit. If you are selling science, sell fucking science, not some chick's bustline. It's not appropriate. A fuzzy bunny wouldn't be either, but it wouldn't get snarled up in some real workplace/societal issues.

I like looking pretty. And I won't sacrifice that, but it has jack shit to do with my intelligence. If I'm talking to you about galactic composition, you'd better be thinking about galactic composition and not about my tits. If you are, that's a problem with YOU. And encouraging an environment that faciliates that, or tacitly encourages it? Is wrong and does me no favors.

I'm lucky. I'm damned lucky in that I was born in '75. But some of the shit that has been said to my face by professionals in this field? Is shameful.

deep breath

That felt good. Anyway, think spark in a tinderbox. Which is why there is actually still a need for the Committee for the Status of Women in Astronomy.

I'm lucky. I'm damned lucky in that I was born in '75. But some of the shit that has been said to my face by professionals in this field? Is shameful.

My sister.

And now I want to go to town on the bastard that gave me the "yeah right" response.

I wish i could edit.

My sister would tell me stories about what she went through in college in the mid-'80s as an electrical engineering major that would really creep me out. Being an English major, I didn't experience nearly the level of sexism she did.

In non-sexist news, not only did I stick to my diet for the first time in over a week today, but I went into the fitness center and walked 20 minutes on the treadmill. It was only .61 of a mile, but considering the last time I was on a treadmill (before Xmas), I was only able to go 5 minutes before having to stop and catch my breath, I'm really happy with my day. My new goal is by my birthday (30 days away) to be able to walk a 30-minute mile without leaning on the treadmill's bars at the end (like I did today). I'm going back after work tomorrow for more swimming, and I hope to do some more treadmill either Friday or Saturday (but not both).

Oddly (or not, it may have been all this that prompted it) I've been thinking about Lise Meitner a lot lately. And it still pisses me off to a froth that she didn't get included on the Nobel. Need to re-read that bio.

You know what's interesting? I don't feel like I ran into any of these things until college. Growing up,well, I mean hell, I had an ERA onesie and baby blanket. It was an issue I was aware of and raised to champion, but it never collided with me personally. I heard of it, but... Part of it, I guess, was that I was so apart anyway, that the machismo culture of the town I grew up never really embraced me long enough to rebuff me. I could be part of it, but the rules didn't really apply to me. And I had kickass public schools. I was other, academics' daughter and a nerd, and school embraced that better than they did the majority of the population. That exempted me from a lot. Then I joined a community of my supposed-like and suddenly, this crap was in my face.

Allyson, you made your point, he had nothing substantive, and that's very clear.