staticonthesignal:womeninspace:staticonthesignal:profeminist:“MAKERS features NASA’s first female mi

staticonthesignal:womeninspace:staticonthesignal:profeminist:“MAKERS features NASA’s first female military scientist and space shuttle commander, Cady Coleman in their MAKERS Monday newsletter. Get to know her and how she became fascinated with space exploration!”As seen on the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media  Facebook page  Watch the video on the MAKERS site Just wondering, how many male shuttle commanders can anyone name? Hell, how many astronauts after Apollo 13 can ANYONE name? I’m a male, and I can only remember Sally Ride and Scott Kelly. Sally Ride has got to be the most famous shuttle astronaut simply because she was the first woman. I only know Scott Kelly because he JUST spent a year in space and that ended VERY recently. Oh and there’s Chris Hatfield who got famous from a viral video. I’m someone who follows space VERY closely compared to most people. But go ahead, let me hear about how NASA needs feminism.Hey Drew,I think we should be looking at the bigger picture here. The first time a female commanded the space shuttle was in 1999, 18 years after the first flight of the space shuttle. On the 95th flight Eileen Collins took the reigns of mission STS-93. She also commanded mission STS-95 in 2005. After her only Pamela Melroy comandeered another space shuttle mission in 2007. So of all 135 missions, 3 were commanded by a woman. Those are pretty bad numbers. For astronauts overall it is not much better. 60 were women, out of a total 537 space travellers. Spaceflight, including NASA needs feminism. I think we all need feminism. The equality of men and women will serve society better. Everyone can take their place where they want to be, everyone can contribute in the best way they see fit. This is not a matter of law, this about how society views men and women. For a long time an astronaut was a man. Even today, space engineers and scientist are seen as male. We have to turn that around, there should be no bias against female engineers and astronauts. It should not be special for a girl to persue a career in space. NASA, a great organisation, is at the forefront of equality in space. The latest astronaut corps had a 50/50 gender distribution. There are many female leaders within NASA. In 2012 20% of the NASA engineers were women. These numbers are a big improvement on the past, but there is still a long road ahead before equal representation is reached. And that’s why I think NASA still needs feminism. Thanks for reading!Women-in-SpaceYou say there’s a long road ahead, but the new astronaut core is perfectly equal.Do you think that the imbalance exists, at least to some extent, because of the choices that women make? What if they are predisposed to other professions? They have more financial grants and are selected over men more by colleges when applying for STEM majors. Now, I want more women in STEM because frankly, it’s lonely. But I think it should be their choice. If they don’t want to be in stem, then fine. You don’t seem to be asking about that though. You just see the percentages and assume it’s because men want to keep women from flying for NASA.Equal opportunity does not mean equal outcome because of personal choice.So, if you accept the possibility that at least some of the imbalance is a result of choice, will you accept a non-equal ratio of women to men at NASA?Furthermore, maybe NASA does have a bit of old school sexism in it still, but the last thing it needs is feminism. The textbook definition, sure. But the the actual implementation of feminism seen on college campuses and this site? No. As a man, I’ve watched feminists tell white people they’re racist, straight people they’re homophobic, and males that they’re sexist. I’ve watched them mock issues that are faced primarily by men and laugh at the idea of cutting off dicks. I’ve heard them complain about the micro aggressions “ruining” their lives and about how members of the U.S military are pathetic and deserve none of our support for any reason. As a straight white male, modern feminism has done nothing but express it’s hate and disdain for me.If I work at NASA one day, I’ll be there to build machines that have never been thought of before. I’ll be there to make history for my species. I’ll be there to create. I won’t be there to hear about how shitty of a person I am because of my dick. I won’t be there for feminists to take control over my projects and bitch at me while I’m trying to design a circuit board. I won’t be there to be told that a woman is going to run my team instead of someone more qualified because she’s a woman.I’ll concede that NASA may have a tinge of old-school sexism in it. But if it does, it’s rapidly and naturally falling away as the old guard retires. If left alone, it will balance out soon. If you want to hurry that up, great, go for it. Just keep in mind that women may make different choices than men. But the last thing NASA needs is feminism. Maybe egalitarianism, because it hasn’t been corrupted like feminism.BTW if you’re a feminist who’s fed up with these kinds of feminists, my condolences. That sucks. Unfortunately it still means that, atm, feminism isn’t suited for NASA.Hey Drew,Thank you for responding. It is great that the new astronaut corps is perfectely equal. NASA consist of more than just the astronaut corps, as also stated in my post; only 20% of engineers in NASA is female. NASA is not all there is in space. There are other agencies, like ESA, CSA, DLR and CNES. And there are companies, like Boeing, Airbus, OHB and SpaceX. All these institutions have an unequal distribution of men and women. So far I’ve used statistics to support my points. It’s much more solid data then anecdotes, which you present a lot. I hope by presenting a number of my own, you might see things another way. I currently work in space. I work on systems for ESA and NASA. These projects will investigate the earth, fly to Mercury and explore the moons of Jupiter. I have a great job, and never hear how shitty I am because I’m a male. I have heard sexism towards women. And many women I’ve met, old and young, have had experiences with sexism. There are many examples, just three for now:A collegeau got the question whether her breasts were real.The only woman I that graduated alongside me, was also the only one of us students who got constant remarks on her looks. A female lead designer told me the customer didn’t want to speak to her, he wanted to speak to an old white man. (Note that she was the only one who could answer his questions).These occurences are unprofessional and show that women in our field are not taken seriously. I’ve seen sexist remarks being made both by old and young men, it’s not something that is just going away. This also has an effect on the women in space engineering. I’ve seen women leave space engineering because of this. So yes, this imbalance exist partly because of the choices women make. But these choices do not exist in a vacuum. There are a response to a lot more factors than just a love for space or a love for engineering. A women with a love for space and engineering, might still choose a different profession because of everyday sexism. A girl growing up, might not even consider a career in space engineering when she only sees men doing that. And that is why I started this blog. Examples are important to let women make a decision they will love. Feminism is needed so they will get the career they deserve. There are a lot of misconceptions about feminism. It is a blanket term for a number of ideologies, theories and groups. It is also a blanket term for a lot of people. The main tennant is that women and men deserve equal right and treatement. I do not think it’s fair to judge everyone that calls themselve a feminist by the behaviour of the worst. I’ve seen feminist express things I disagree with, but I’ve seen many more feminists with very valid points. If a feminist calls someone sexist, racist or homophobic, they might be right. As a white man, femnism has done a lot for me. It is breaking up stereotypes about what it means to be male. It has fought for parental leave for dads. It has allowed me to meet some of the most amazing and smartest people I know.The women I’ve worked with are very professional. In many instances more qualified in their job then I was. In many instances more driven than I am. I suspect that only the most driven women continue in this career, because of sexism. I am aware that a lot of this posts is about my own experience. Take it as an extra viewpoint on top of your own. I would like to invitie you to research feminism more, there is way more on the topic than just some comments on tumblr. I would like to invite you to observe how others treat your fellow female students, and see how that differs from how they treat you. Is it professional? Is it with the same respect? I would like to talk with the women in your life about the sexism they have encountered. Take them seriously, let them do the talking. I won’t accept sexism, and neither should you.Thank you for reading!Women-in-Space -- source link
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