It is with great displeasure that I present to you all a day in the life of a woman in science. Because, y'know, we're just too distracting to be taken seriously, EVER. π #sexism 
That's a comment in response to the photos of me taken in the feature by @TorontoVerve (if you didn't see the feature, my current avi is one of them, and I've added one to this tweet). This was posted on reddit, you can take a look, here: google.com/amp/s/amp.reddβ¦
It got so bad that a ton of comments were deleted, and users, blocked. So bad that comments are now locked. IN THE ASTRONOMY SUBREDDIT. So if anyone thinks astro is friendlier to women, think again.
The one comment I took a screenshot of wasn't blocked/deleted because it isn't vulgar. It's an opinion. But that opinion tells me that, as a woman, if I expect to be taken seriously, I'd better watch what I wear, otherwise I "had it coming".
That's dangerous. It has the connotations of rape culture, where a woman is to blame because of what she's wearing. Comments like "don't be upset when people react to her appearance" and "the photos are just distracting from that" ("that" being science) are inappropriate.
And this isn't just women in STEM. It's WOMEN EVERYWHERE. We're either way too dressed up to be taken seriously, or we don't care enough about our looks to be women! And you know what? This will never change *so long as* we live in a patriarchal society.
That's why I decided I had to tweet this. Because I'm not about to let society continue to be patriarchal. Because I want to make sure that the younger generation of women live in friendlier conditions, not ones where they're confined to expectations that can never be met.
I want women to be free to be themselves, without having to worry about their appearance, whether that includes makeup, is laid back, funky, anything. I want women to feel safe whatever they choose to do. And to get there, we need to drive home, that these opinions aren't okay.
If you think it gets easier for people who have a large(ish) following, it doesn't. The sad part? When my friend told me she saw someone posted about me on reddit, I got so happy, but then looked it *just in case* said something negative. Well, they did. Many. And it's never easy
And my following isn't all that large. It's growing (thank you all!), but it isn't nearly as large as many others. I can only imagine how much they have to deal with this.
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