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Anti-acknowlegements
Anti-acknowlegements
161 comments
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Hero.
I love everything about how she's calling out the culture in her realm of academia and casting it in Stone by being the first pages of her book.
Sucks it all happened. But proud to have it justly put on blast.
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What she has been through is awful.
I wish though that more people knew the difference between an Acknowledgements page and a Thank You page.
This should properly be titled Anti Thanks.
Acknowledgements should only cover individuals and institutions whose contributions are a direct factor in the material body of the text.
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The amount of dudes in this comment section who really aren't getting it is astounding...
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is it not normal to assign stripper names to all the women you want to have sex with?
/s
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For anybody having difficulty reading the text:
Anti Acknowledgements
There have unfortunately also been people who have been less than helpful in my journey here. I wanted to acknowledge those too, because I know I am not unique in this experience.
No thank you to the physics study association that made me sing songs about how women couldn't study physics without sleeping with the professor, the day I stepped into university life. No thank you to the 5th year physics student that decided to assign me a 'stripper name' within the first minute of meeting me in the physics coffee corner in my first year. No thank you to the technician that was responsible for onboarding me on the use of the cluster in my third year who raised his eyebrows and asked me if that meant I was some sort of "computer girl". No thank you to the senior researcher that sent me utterly inappropriate texts after a conference, then proceeded to 'apologise' months later by telling me they had not been meant for me anyway so "no hard feelings remain hopefully". And no thank you to him for attending every conference I've been to since. No thank you to the people who told me that it was "surprising" that I was doing a PhD since I was a girl. No thank you to the man who mistook me for a coffee lady at a conference, and after having to correct him two times that I did not work there, responded with "you should consider it". No thank you to the researcher that asked me what I was wearing underneath my outfit during a conference. No thank you to the physicist who declared to a room full of other physicists that biologists "don't know how to design an experiment". No thank you to the people who have called me scary instead of strong and intimidating instead of intelligent. And finally, no thank you to the executive board of the TU Delft, whose knee-jerk reaction to being held up to a mirror about the social safety at the university, was to sue the party holding up the mirror instead of looking at the problems they highlighted.
I wish I could tell you this has all made me stronger somehow but in reality it has only shattered my confidence. You have made me feel like I do not belong in science and I cannot forgive you for that.
-Rachel
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Holy shit. Get em.
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Bravo to the exceptional bravery on display here. I'm sure the majority of PhD graduates, including myself, wish they'd had the gumption to name and shame the suppressing factors contributing to a toxic academic environment. Reading this makes me kind of appreciative that my troubles were only administrative mismanagement and an inexperienced supervisor.
Also what the hell is up with TU Delft? It's only partway through March and this is the second time this year that I've seen a PhD candidate publicly call out the institute.
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can't wait to experience that myself!! 🥰
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Does anyone have info about the lawsuit
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Unfathomably based.
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Reminds me of Sabine Hossfelder, a physicist, who had made some similar experiences.
https://youtu.be/LKiBlGDfRU8?si=5zCg4doidh7tSJIM
Proof that educated people can still be immensely stupid and be utter human trash.
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It's sad that she decided to channel her experience into transphobia, as if punching down will somehow make up for all the punches she got.
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Love the part on the video where essentially she says "I was given my first research position thanks to a grant for women. Also, there should be no research grants for women". Piece of shit.
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To be clear, you are criticising Sabine for saying there should be no research grants for women? If so, you perhaps misinterpret her meaning?
If I know Sabine at all from her videos, she would have meant that in an equal world, grants aimed specifically at either sex should not be necessary.
That's quite different from a "raise the drawbridge" stance - but I'm a casual viewer, so please be kind while putting me right, if warranted.
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why is this rachel too scared to name names?
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Libel lawsuits are a bitch.
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And this burden of proof is on the accuser.
I don't doubt the stories, but a court would see it in a different way for a good reason. It's hard to find a solution between slander and rightfully calling someone out.
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Not a physicist but fuck it is so relatable.
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No thank you to the physicist who declared to a room full of other physicists that biologists "don't know how to design an experiment."
That's just what physics does to your brain. They're all like that.
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Hey, not all of us! Physics was humbling in my experience. Had the exact opposite effect.
I did exceptionally well at a top physics university, and still felt stupid all the time.
It took getting my ass handed to me to wipe that veneer off my perceived awesomeness and realized I’m doing this cause I love it. Why would I think down on anyone else doing what they do cause they love it?
And I sure as hell came to realize that there’s people better at biology than I am at physics.
That said, lots of physics people are high on their own supply. So, not discounting the reality of physics dickheads that are in abundant supply.
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yeah. the rest of this seems like serious grievances, but physicists saying dumb arrogant shit to other scientists about not being 'real' fields seems like blaming water for being wet.
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It's almost a punchline. 'Fuck sexism, harassment, repression, and those god damn smug-ass physicists!'
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Normalise this. In the past women would have been accused of being unprofessional to have called men out like this. That's the only reason why every woman doesn't do it.
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normalize it to the point that the anti-acknowledgements name names
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This seems to be the Netherlands (TU Delft). Maybe it's normal there.
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I don't think so. Academia is still a pyramid system, and a lot of people want a post-doc or not burn bridges
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Fuck these misogynistic pigs, idiots like these need to be called out more often. It's too bad she couldn't give names out and completely humiliate and ruin them.
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Only if the accusations are true. It is just a post on the internet, there is no proof any of this is true or factual. Don't be in such a hurry to harm others and damage their lives.
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As a woman, and having known many other women, I can promise you that none of what is mentioned is particularly far fetched. It's sad, but we all have multiple stories like this. Almost any woman could put together a similar paragraph of incidents she has personally experienced.
Edit to add: she didn't even name anyone! No one is harmed, except the people who know they should be ashamed of themselves.
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A bit more, this is a chapter from a PhD thesis
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As the husband of a woman with a PhD, let me assure you that I have witnessed several of these first hand when I travel with her to conferences.
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We should absolutely ruin their lives. Fuckem
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Never let the actions of others dictate your future. If you have a goal never never give up.
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Spoken like a true man. I'm a victim of sexism in STEM, now resigned to finish my degree in Japanese rather than deal with the awfulness that is men in Engingeering.
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Victim blaming, classic
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Simpler said than done. Of course I agree with you, but we need deeper changes in our society, in our behaviour as people. If you get told time and time again, that you're worthless, can't achieve anything etc. that's going to leave a mark. Sure, encouraging to not let that dominate one's thoughts is a useful skill. But it shouldn't be necessary in the first place.
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You can also have a chance to get out of such a negative surrounding, connect with people that respect you and do actions that raise your self esteem (back).
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Maybe instead of meaningless platitudes actual change would be in order.
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I appreciate her telling it like it is and not bowing to a pressure to please.
Found an article speaking more about it, if anyone is curious about the context/her work.
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Shoutout to the physicists dismissing biologist experiment design as a whole instead of across sexual or gendered lines.
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My mom is a biologist and complains how physicists always come into biology, try to reinvent everything without looking at any prior work, and then fail to execute their (sometimes interesting, sometimes not) method
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I don't really understand how that one was a problem if they're also a physicist, or even if they're a biologist. Nothing wrong with some fun rivalry.
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When I was at college us physicists would joke about the biologists and the chemists and the mathematicians and the engineers, and in turn they'd joke about us, and we'd all have a good laugh over it.
I suppose it would come down to the context and how it was said.
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Related:
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He really didn't coin the term for her specifically, as nice as that sounds.
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Fucking relatable.
No thank you to the hundreds of years of chemist men taking credit for women's discoveries.
No thank you to the old white Persian man gate keeping chemistry from Ukranians and older women in my class.
No thank you to the sexist math book author who used shoeless women in a kitchen as a word problem example.
No thank you to Amazon for banning my 15 year account for calling the sexist math book author out in reviews.
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White Persian?
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Sucks.
Live and let live, man! And preferably with no sexism!
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Beautifully spoken
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Name dropping TU Delft is surprising to me! ETA: found more info here, but not about the lawsuit piece.
https://delta.tudelft.nl/en/article/a-no-thank-you-to-the-person-who-assumed-i-was-the-coffee-lady
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Yeah... Not that surprising to me. TU Delft hasn't been doing so hot. They literally have it all. Corruption, harassment, nepotism. But if you are not a PhD student you shouldn't be too affected by any of these.
- https://www.ctol.digital/news/phd-termination-tu-delft-academic-fairness-debate/
- https://www.fnv.nl/nieuwsbericht/sectornieuws/fnv-overheid/2024/04/tu-delft-pleegt-censuur-op-eigen-universiteitsblad
- https://delta.tudelft.nl/en/article/inspectorate-of-education-ascertains-mismanagement-by-tu-delft-but-the-latter-criticises-the-investigation
- https://www.omroepwest.nl/nieuws/4830825/klokkenluider-tu-delft-maakt-levens-kapot-ik-hoop-dat-dit-eindelijk-eens-stopt
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Thanks. I only heard about Delft from a woman studying there, and didn't hear any complaints. I guess PhD students cannot run as easily, so they get the short end :(
Actually, I was loosely considering applying there, this made sure I won't. That stuff needs to be made more public, so that their reputation noticeably suffers. Only then will people care to enact change.
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I'm curious there, too.
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This just makes me sad. How can science advance, if we gatekeep one half of human population? In my academic career I have consistently found women to be smarter and better than men. Yet, these misogynistic ideas seem to persist. We deserve better than old farts with even older bias heading the institutions that make up our society.
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But now they're all "DEI hires," at least in the US, so we're fucked over here
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When I was in elementary school, we always had a table at the back where the advanced students would do more difficult stuff than the rest of the class while not being completely isolated. The table was always me and 5 or 6 girls. When we graduated high school, I was the top-ranked boy - and the 22nd-ranked student overall. I just took it completely for granted that girls were smarter than boys (although I did perceive the very strong anti-intellectual culture among boys which seemed more impactful than native abilities).
It wasn't until I went to college that I started encountering the belief that men were fundamentally smarter than women, even though every college and university I've attended had more women than male students and the women had much better academic performance. That was my first taste of the power of group delusion.
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Half way through the Hidden Figures movie I started to realize that the racist sexist people in charge really deserved to lose to the Russians.
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It's exactly that is why they're kept down. Tiny men are afraid that they won't seem as smart as the woman in the room.
As a man, I try to be different. I mentor the women around me and encourage them to do more, be better. I successfully got one of my mentee to negotiate her salary just yesterday even though she felt uncomfortable doing so. Try to be the change we need
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Never understood why some people so desperately need to be the smartest being in the universe. You're a magic meat computers running on a system of hormones so complex that tweaking their balance just a bit can cause unforseen permament consequences. None of us have the right to call ourselves "smart". Just chill and do your best.
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It cannot
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There is an excellent Science channel on Youtube and Nebula with a Physics PHD who's made some eye-opening content about harassment and misogyny in STEM and Academia.
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Here are two videos on that subject that are great to start out with
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Love her videos! Really opened my eyes to a lot of this.
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She’s a great science communicator. Another famous Youtuber (Captain D) called her “the Jenny Nicholson of science” her Dark Matter video is my favorite, though her Gell-Mann Amnesia video is a “must watch” imho.
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Watch her dark matter video. And the follow up. But for the love of God, dodge the comments. SO MANY people read the title of the video and then went to make comments calling her wrong, even though she spent like an hour specifically addressing the arguments they make.
Dark matter is not a theory. It's a problem. Fuck!
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I recently got recommended her channel. She's amazing, like Jenny Nicholson but for science.
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I read the first sentence in that big paragraph and thought "wow, going straight to the biggest problem right out of the gate instead of building up to it, huh?" Then I kept reading and realized the entire paragraph was about that same thing. Holy shit, that's a lot of sexism!
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Now I want an anti-acknowledgment section in my dissertation too
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Acknowledgmen't
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I don't understand the "computer girl" one, did the technician think that her being a woman meant she was doing computer science instead of physics?
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If a man told you he worked with computers, it'd be odd to raise an eyebrow and respond "Are you some kind of computer boy?". The technician treated this woman's work as something special because she was a woman. In other words: A man that works with a computer is still just a man. A woman that works with a computer must be something special, a computer girl.
And bonus points for calling her a girl, which is just a little bit more infantilizing.
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I'm not sure of the timeframe of this, but it could be referring to the time when calculations were done by women by hand: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Computers
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could be referring to "mad men" era secretaries as ibm era computers were just better fancier word processors/typewriters
edit: or maybe like IT helpdesk staff who are like janitors (i.e. they don't see a difference between calling environmental services for a clogged toilet vs IT for a bricked computer)
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A dot point list would have made this more readable. Just saying.
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The irony in how badly you are missing the dot point
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It may be in a scientific paper, but this is more of an anecdote about the various issues the author encountered, rather than something intended to be actionable and clearly delineated as you’d expect in the body of a scientific article. Therefore a more literary style is appropriate for this section.
My mental model is that bullet points are for when you expect a reader to go over the points with a highlighter, prose for when you want to produce an emotional response. This feels more like the latter.
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Yeah i agree with you. I feel like prose is for free-style text, which doesn't claim to be rigorous. Bullet points always feel like there's more rigor involved.
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and she should smile more too right? god you are a cunt
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If you are unable to read a paragraph, you need to spend your time getting a referral to speak with a neurologist, not commenting on Lemmy.
Oh sorry, let me help: spend time make plan speak brain doctor, no make mean comment here. danger! brain sick or hurt! make speed!
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Is this satire?
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You are indeed!
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Yes yes, intelligent woman be intimidating to some people.
But how old is this, is it still that bad? The "computer girl" could be around 2000.
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But surely equality has been achieved in the last few months, this all feels so very January. People are so much more open minded now than in those dark days of the past. Why waste time even discussing such outdated attitudes that totally and completely disappeared in February and are certain to never return?!
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...the dissertation. Which means years of being at a university, though granted it's unlikely to be 25.
Feminist Hacker Barbie is the proper meme response to that and that's 2014/15, but chuds tend to live under rocks so that might explain it.
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Boy did this comment backfire.
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It's all in the wording, but I think it's also the contradiction between the first and second/third sentences.
Yes yes, intelligent woman be intimidating to some people.
Acknowledges that intelligent women are intimidating to some. It also uses present tense, which implies the author knows this is still the case.
But how old is this, is it still that bad? The "computer girl" could be around 2000.
Ah "it". Which it? That some people are intimidated by intelligent women or that the author encountered a ton of sexism?
I think it's ok to ask how prevalent sexism still is these days, especially if you personally experience it / don't participate in a field dominated by the opposite gender.
Something like "I thought society would have finally realized this behavior wasn't appropriate after me too, is that not the case?" sounds less tone deaf.
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You think old men in academia are up to date on their misogyny? Why?
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Are you a woman? I've never met a woman who hasn't had some experience with this. Sexism is everywhere, and if you haven't really experienced it, that's bcz you're a guy.
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Ok but, awful as this is, "you should consider it" is funny, ngl
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I don't think it's that funny, just a sad defense for not being able to recognize that someone belongs at the conference instead of among the customer service staff.
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Yeah, it's a sexist comment implying she isn't either qualified to be at the conference, or mistaking her for a passerby who is unaffiliated, and should consider working there. Either way, I don't find sexism funny. Dunno why anybody would, but hey, I'm just some guy on the internet, so you do you.
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161 comments