sexism

I Went to the Place Where There Is Nothing But IKEA

When you walk out of the Älmhult train station, there’s not much to see. To the west is a string of filthy box cars on the railroad, and to the east, a small park with no people. TripAdvisor will tell you that there is only one thing to do in the tiny Swedish village: Go…

What Comic Characters Would Benefit From Changing Their Ethnicity?

Greetings, mail minions! Let’s just get right into it, because today I’m tackling the tough questions and big topics! Race! The Ant-Man trailer! 3) Star Wars minutia! And Spider-Woman’s boobs! (As opposed to her butt, thank goodness.) It’s something for everybody! The awesome art above, by the way, is by Bill Mund. Check out the…

Is Economics The Most Misogynist Of The Sciences?

Economists routinely get away with saying things that would be considered outrageously misogynist in other contexts. Is economics the worst academic field for women? Stony Brook University finance professor Noah Smith has an article on Bloomberg today laying out the evidence. The article is a well-considered discussion of the kinds of sexism that are fairly…

Thanks To That Shirt, We May Get a Shirt Celebrating Women In Science

It is an incredible day for science when a tiny robot manages to land on a comet. It is an irritating day for science when that gets overshadowed by a poor wardrobe choice. It is a good day for science when that mistake is quickly addressed, and even better when it results in a fantastic…

Fox News Clip Is A Master Class On How Not To Discuss Sexism In Comics

This past week, we listed off some of the ridiculous arguments that people make to defend sexism in superhero comics, but it looks like we may have to add a few more to that list. This conversation between three Fox News hosts brings up some baffling points about female superheroes. https://gizmodo.com/10-stupid-arguments-people-use-to-defend-comic-book-sex-1636381824 Tucker Carlson, Anna Kooiman,…

10 Stupid Arguments People Use To Defend Comic Book Sexism

Every time someone brings up the problem of sexism of the comics industry, there are always a few people who are oddly incensed. “It’s bullshit! A double standard! You’re the one with the issues!” they yell. They’re wrong on all counts. Here’s some helpful logic that proves why. We’ve listed each logical fallacy about sexism…

OnePlus to Women: Send Us Hot Selfies, We’ll Let You Buy Our Phone

Tech companies have a pretty awful track record where talking to women is concerned. But after running damage control on horrible campaign after horrible campaign, you’d think they’d try to avoid making the same mistakes again. And you would be wrong. EnterOnePlus’ new lovely-ladies-only invite giveaway. Because, as they say, “chivalry is not dead.” First,…

Does a Storm’s Gender Impacts Willingness to Evacuate?

As if naming hurricanes weren’t already complicated enough, a new study suggests that the gender of a storm’s name may impact if people are willing to evacuate. Except, it’s probably not that simple. Read on for a paper-summary, then head over here for a critical analysis of the research‘s limitations. Tl;dr? Statistics are complicated to…

I Can’t Figure Out Whether This College Study is Sexist or Not

It was the 1930s, and America was changing. Women were going to college and communists were marching in the streets. But people really didn’t want those two things to combine. And thus was born a study that had its heart in the right place and its head in the wrong one. Here is the tale…

Star Wars VII Says It Totally Has Another Major Female Character Coming

Hot on the heels of the announcement of the much-anticipated Star Wars: Episode VII cast, and the sudden, dismaying realization that only one new female lead had joined the cast, suddenly sources are saying that Star Wars: Episode VII still has another “substantial” female role to cast. These sources, who may or may not look…

Hey Star Wars — Where the Hell Are the Women?

This morning we all delighted in the casting announcement for Star Wars VII. And then the reality set in: There is only one new female character being added to what is arguably the world’s most beloved mythic series. It’s as if 51 percent of the population cried out in pain, and was suddenly silenced. Let…

“Code Babes” Is Everything Wrong With Tech Culture—Plus Strippers

The internet is buzzing right now with the latest, greatest (and potentially fake) Worst Thing Ever. Meet Code Babes, the stripping amalgam of everything that’s wrong with tech culture today. Code Babe’s premise, purportedly, is to make learning to code fun by giving you an extra special sexytime motivation. Every time you pass a quiz,…

The worst moment in the Transcendence trailer was never filmed. The bit in the Transcendence trailer where Morgan Freeman intones that the “the fate of mankind” is at stake? That was never in the film, says director Wally Pfister. “I’d never write something like that.” The marketing people recorded that line and added it.

Scientific evidence that booth babes don’t sell products

There’s been a raging debate over “booth babes” in the tech community for years. Should companies hire sexy models to work in their sales booths at events like CES, or is this an outdated, degrading practice? But nobody had ever asked whether booth babes were good for sales. So Frontback head of marketing Spencer Chen…

​Why do we hate so many female characters so much?

I seem to recall in 2013 there was a big deal about Thanksgiving and the first day of Hanukkah coinciding. Well, since the post-apocalypse happened so soon after that, I guess that’s why we kind of ended up merging Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas into a month-long celebration of gift-giving, drinking, and good cheer (because of…

New “comedy” video shows Einstein sexually assaulting Marie Curie

Apparently It’s Okay To Be Smart thinks it’s okay to be sexist. The science-themed YouTube show is taking a ton of flak after releasing a video portraying Albert Einstein as a lecherous old man who can’t keep his hands off Marie Curie during Thanksgiving dinner. The video, which was produced by Joe Hanson of IOTBS…

YouTube Comments Will Soon Be Less Racist, Homophobic, and Confusing

Ever read the comments on a popular YouTube video? There is no faster way to strip yourself of faith in humanity. It’s a cesspool. And this is coming from someone who writes for the Gawker network. We know a little something about rowdy comments sections. YouTube’s is worse, but it’s finally about to smarten up.…

Women Who Don’t Know About Auto Repair Charged More For Auto Repairs

A new study proves that women who don’t seem to know much about cars are quoted higher prices for automobile repair than men. But women calling about the hypothetical repair who “indicate they have done research online and know the market rate to replace the radiator” got the same price as men. https://jezebel.com/auto-shops-dont-mean-to-overcharge-women-but-they-do-513973791 The study’s…

Handy charts reveal why you’ve never heard of most female SF authors

Over at Strange Horizons, the editors have done their yearly assessment of the state of gender in genre publishing. The good news is that men and women are published in almost equal numbers. The bad news is that books by men are reviewed far more often. So when women get published, you rarely hear about…

The Avengers are Earth’s Mightiest Sexists in Marvel’s amazingly awful new shirts

One of these Marvel Avengers shirts is a boys shirt, and one is a girls shirt. TRY TO GUESS WHICH IS WHICH. Really, Marvel? Really? Even if you ignore the insane sexism posed by releasing these two t-shirts simultaneously — like, even if you are genuinely, unrepentantly sexist in real life, which I don’t believe…