Science should be for everyone… but too often, it isn’t.
Science is awesome- but historically, only certain people have been allowed (very explicitly) to be scientists, and that legacy still is with us. That’s not all, either: often, science has been weaponized against those excluded people, whether it has been through racist pseudo-science serving as apologia for brutal colonial purges, to modern day attempts to erase trans, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming people with appeals to “basic biology”.
It’s easy for us to disavow this history by distancing ourselves as modern scientists from it. But that’s both intellectually dishonest and unethical. Who gets to be a scientist, whose research gets shared and incorporated into the greater body of scientific knowledge, what even we define “science” as- all of these are influenced by this uncomfortable past, which is not even “past” in many cases.
I believe that as a scientist, I have a moral duty to engage in these conversations and to lift the voices of members of historically excluded people. As part of this, I occasionally participate in discussions of issues of equity in STEM, particularly as a queer scientist, and write on both current justice issues and on the history of science. This is the archive of all of those pieces and discussions, and also a place where I link to other resources and voices we should all be paying more attention to.
Blog posts
In addition to my own blog, I occasionally do guest posts on diversity, equity, and justice in science elsewhere:
Bird Names for Birds
Many organisms carry the names of people- many of whom were responsible for things like grave desecration, enslaving other humans, developing the scientific framework for white supremacy, and pursuing brutal imperial expansion. As part of the Bird Names for Birds initiative, I have been researching and compiling profiles of the people behind the names, in an effort to educate others about the parts of natural history that most would rather we not talk about and to push for changing these names.
As of 1 November 2023, our efforts have led to the AOS announcing that eponymous common names will be phased out for North American birds! While work still remains to be done, we’re very excited about this step.
Visit the Bird Names for Birds page here
Proposal for changing the name of Scott’s Oriole here
Media
A running list of people talking to me about these topics, because for some reason they do.
“‘We’re hurting’: Trans scientists call for recognition and support from research community” Phie Jacobs, 14 March 2024. Science.
“Failed PhD: how scientists have bounced back from doctoral setbacks”. Carrie Arnold, 21 August 2023. Nature Careers.
My post on trans-inclusive teaching in genetics was featured as “Quote of the Day” in the 16 February 2022 Nature Briefing.
“A bird named for a Confederate general sparks calls for change”. Hannah Thomasy, 17 July 2020. Undark.