Mumsnet Talk

SpaceKate

Interesting article in the telegraph about a Lynx competition to get to space. The writer / wannabe astronaut makes some interesting points about perceptions of women in STEM.

Just realised what my username is at the moment... haha this is not me by the way!

I remember being really inspired by Helen Sharman being the first Briton in space, but have heard very little about women in space since. The lynx advert i pretty atrocious though, I will be giving the woman in the article a vote.

So the Lynx advert is not just aimed at men and assumes women will fall for the obvious male astronaut (having rejected the male lifeguard)

Have a look at these NASA clips from the space station.

www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/suni_iss_tour.html

It's a tour by the Commander Suni Williams

Brilliant, I love it. Voted for her! I've always found Lynx ads distasteful, it would make me very happy if she won. You should repost in chat as well...

Posted there already and on my FB account. That Lynx ad really annoyed me in so many ways.

Wow

Those fuckers at lynx

The ads have always been, OK, I can see what they're doing, not to my taste but hey I'm not the target audience

But this is just not on.

Have voted

Good idea orb! I think it would e fab if she won too!

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Voted for her - what a ridiculous ad campaign. She's quite right, they could have played with the genre a bit and still have hit their core consumers without being quite so offensive.

So out of touch with the way TV dramas, including the one featuring the fabulous KateBeckett, are subverting some of these stereotypes to show strong male and female partnerships.

How can we mobilise Mumsnet? I've seen you chaps on the current _Chat thread. Need others to step up too!

I'm going to vote.

Women astronauts have been going into space regularly since the early 80s. I don't understand why it's still considered such a novel concept. Suni Williams is the second female Alpha Commander of the ISS, after Peggy Whitson. During one shuttle docking, there were actually two female mission commanders working together: Peggy Whitson and Pam Melroy (the second female shuttle commander).

Helen Sharman came to my school when I was 7, I'm sure she is the biggest reason I went on to study physics.

I never became an astronaut like her though

Undertone If you want to mobilise Mumsnet, get HQ involved (perhaps a blog post from SpaceKate herself?) and also put something in the Am I Being Unreasonable section (AIBU to expect this competition to be open to women for example) - that bit gets the most traffic...

Voted. Agree mnhq should get her in for a chat!

Hi there all - thanks so much for your interest and support. A friend said that you had mentioned me and sent me the link. I'd love to come and chat if you'd have me. It's so important that we show young women that science is not just for boys.

I've been so lucky with the experiences that I've had and I blog about them as spacekate.com so that I can try to share them and perhaps inspire a few people along the way.

I don't have children of my own, so I'm new to mumsnet - but let me know how I can help!

Kate

You need to ask MNHQ for a webchat - sure you'd be welcome on there and join the great alumni of people.

Good luck with the vote.

Welcome SpaceKate!

Hope you enjoy Mumnet!
As for me I am also a professional scientist with an interest in space exploration and if I can do anything to get a fellow female scientist up there I will do so. Haven't quite given up hope myself!
I and others have been FBing and tweeting your story to get more votes! Is it 5000 now?

A webchat is a great idea - we need to discuss how young women are being alienated from science more openly.

Welcome SpaceKate- you absolutely don't need to have children to be on Mumsnet- there's plenty going on that isn't about parenting.

Good luck with the bid to get into space!

Hooray for SpaceKate

Yay Spacekate! I have voted for you. I agree, get onto Mumsnet HQ to get you a webchat and up your profile. I so want you to win!

Always hated Lynx' offensive, incredibly lazy, sexist, boring advertising.