I did a quick search of the New York Times, glancing over the Science section and the Technology section. Immediately, these two articles caught my attention:
Daily Report: A Push for Diversity in the Tech Industry, By Jim Kerstetter
(http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/09/04/daily-report-a-push-for-diversity-in-the-tech-industry/?ref=technology)
Why Is Science So Straight?, By Manil Suri
(http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/05/opinion/manil-suri-why-is-science-so-straight.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&_r=0)
Our class discussion ended on a note of "What now?" - what do we do now that we have identified issues in the culture of science, especially relating to male/female dynamics and values? The first article actually addresses an area of diversity that we didn't focus on in class: race. Kerstetter quickly describes the Hidden Genius Initiative, a program intended to activate men of color and to get them engaged in the tech world. Still there is a focus on men, but it acknowledges a lack of racial diversity in the STEM world. Do we think that targeted programs like this are successful? What is the message that they propagate? Are programs designed around a specific demographic promote inclusivity or do they reinforce otherness?
The second article discusses the invisibility of LGBT people in STEM industries. Suri describes the heteronormitivity of scientific communities and reiterates points that we had made in our class discussion, namely the private moral musings of nuclear weapons scientists. Suri explains, "Being too expressive of personal identity can be viewed as running counter to scientific neutrality." Personal traits are "taboo" (in our class terms) to talk about in the work place and people are forced to compartmentalize their lives, hiding their identities, thereby reinforcing the heteronormative values of the lab environment. Suri concludes his piece by looking forward at the possibility of change, stating, "An essential step is to break self-perpetuating patterns of concealment." It seems that to change norms, people must be willing to break pattern, to challenge the status quo from within.
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