Sir Tim Hunt - women should stay out of labs because they distract men

[MurielWoods]

and they cry too easily and make men fall in love with them

I shit you not

Being 72 is no bloody excuse. The first Women's Liberation Conference was held in 1970. He'd have been 30 then.

Argh. No he wouldn't. Am stupid girlie who can't do maffs. He'd have been 27.

The younger ones have learned not to say such things out loud, which at least makes them bearable to work with.

Sewingbox 'It's all rot and he's said as much'? Sorry, I thought that on the Today show he stated that he “did mean” part of his remarks, and later added he was “just trying to be honest.”

But hey, I'm just a (42 year old) girl, what do I know ....

Slug, I have just spent a very happy few minutes following that hashtag.

I'm trying to interview two scientists tomorrow. I shall try not to let the vicarious sexiness overwhelm me.

So if the head of the lab is, god forbid, a girl woman, she should not be employing any men?

Absolutely, GlassofPort.

And he is right, if you extrapolate a little. Read it as given that the majority of people are heterosexual, anywhere you get mixed gender groups some of them will fall in love. So, in a male hegemony anywhere you add a female or two you will start the pick me dance - on both sides.

Also, in any male hegemony, when a bastion (in this case male) of the society gives A N Other a robust ticking off some Other people will cry. Women do have a tendency to show feelings more often, ipso facto, qed.

But 'girls'?? Do we have to be infantilised all the time?

Pah!

OK, then I could extraoplate that boys are more likely to ignore constructive criticism, as they tend to be cocky know-it-all

Given that attitude is not particularly conducive to research, I could conclude that a lab is no place for boys

I'm a scientist. I have never cried at work. I have never developed a crush on a colleague and as far as I know, none of my colleagues have developed a crush on me. This man is a fool.

Absolutely, GlassOfPort.

No children in professional labs ever

More seriously, yes. It is as easy to make the converse case. Maybe it should all boil down to 'Whoever gets in first sets the precedent.

Alternatively, fuck it, that's life, get used to it!

One person does not a convention make, FirstOfficer.

Have you never known colleagues start relationships?

Oh dear.

Once again... the only thing that gets in the way of people coming together as a team to do a job to the best of their abilities is bigotry and prejudice... whether it's sexism or anything else.

Judging people on factors irrelevant to the task in hand is a failure to prioritise the task in hand.

If Sir Dim is busy worrying about whether someone is going to cry or fall in love with him instead of getting on with his work - perhaps he needs a change of scene?

Of course relationships happen at work. And of course people cry at work whether scientists or not. That does not make women poor scientists, does not make them difficult to work with and does not make them a waste of time. I'm a physicist, it's hard enough to get girls and women into physics without twattish comments like this. The Royal Society delivers lectures for members on communicating science and talking to journalists - I think he needs to attend them.

Ah! But I never said that women were poor scientists, neither did he, in the pieces I read.

I too am science trained. I too think what he said was ridiculous. But he did have a point, mix genders and you get relationships and different/gendered viewpoints.

Without it we would not exist!

Old bloke makes silly comment at conference, shock.

This baffles me on so many levels
a) Does he imagine this rampant love falling is only prevalent in labs? Or should all workplaces be gender segregated?
b) Gay or bisexual people just don't exist? Or can manage their emotions better?

Almost as bad was that he said this at a panel/conference specifically about women in science, with, I imagine a high % of female attendees, and still seems honestly surprised that he did not get the reaction he expected.

Tim Hunt - waddac hunt

I suspect he wishes it were true, so he could have got some action at work. Which I'm willing to bet, he didn't. Not even in the 70s.

He's an ugly gimp tbf...

Yeah! That'd be right, Monstrous. Married men, always looking for some 'action at work'.

Gobshites, the lot of them!

Unfortunately he is not alone in his views. It is rampant throughout the STEM subjects. as it always has been
The publicity that his comments have had will put more young females off studying these subjects.
The Royal Society should step in at this point rather than distancing themselves. Says it all really.

HAHAHAHA!

Did anybody notice that he mentioned people (plural) falling in love with him? Who are those people? Had they been in the fume cupboard for too long? I presume that one was his wife, but even in his younger days I can't imagine he was as much of a catch as he thinks he is.

I am quite disappointed at his rationale. I thought he was going to say that our inconvenient hormones disrupted the chemicals, or something.

I worked in a lab during my summer holidays from university and I never saw or experienced any action. I think it's the lab coats, safety glasses and safety shoes. Perhaps Sir Tim thinks he looks extremely dashing thus clad.

He should change his name to Michael.

Unfortunately, a Nobel prize is not a guarantee against idiocy in other areas of life. Look at what James Watson had to say about race or William Shockley's ideas about eugenics if you want examples. I hate to say anything bad about Marie Curie and Irene Joliot-Curie, but they were a lot more cavalier about lab safety than they should have been. They both died of it, as did some other people who worked with them.

Yes, Royal Society have been lamentable and drippy. Could the lot of them really not have come up with something caustic and dismissive to squash the idea that anyone else thinks like this or believes this is acceptable?

Wait..what? They do, and it is?

Oh, bollocks.

I wonder what Prof Mary Collins makes of it all...