To be really annoyed with Stephen Hawking?

[blonderthanred]

I just don't understand the point of him making these comments.

www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jan/04/stephen-hawking-women-complete-mystery

Do we really need, of all people, a respected scientist coming out with this sort of guff?

I hate to make the comparison today of all days but would he make the comparison if we substituted the word 'women' with a racial group?

Shame on the Guardian for publishing it, particularly as the headline bears little relation to the actual story beyond the first paragraph.

I am not a mystery. I am an individual.

Nope..I cannot understand why you are annoyed. It is a common enough comment - often said tongue in cheek. Being an enigma is a compliment, not an insult.

I think it is a pointless quote when considered with the rest of the article. Maybe a reference to the complicated private life he has had?

i think the problem is the guardian tbh, I can see the journo asking something like "you understand xyz, is there anything that mystifies you still" and it being a joke. but YANBU to find the article alittle WTF

I think you are right Twinks. Was just really, as you say, WTF.

Just think that sort of comment/article really adds to the idea of women as an alien species, a homogeneous mass to be 'understood' or otherwise. Also relates to the unhelpful women-on-pedestal thing which contributes so much to passive misogyny. Next we'll hear that he treats all his women as if they were princesses.