Give the “Fair Sex” a Fair Shake

As a longtime reader of Science , and the invited food speaker to the New York Academy of Science's series “Girls Night Out,” I take exception to the idea that the choice of topics condescends to women (“Science for the fair sex,” Random Samples, 18 December 2009, p. [1597][1]). When I see the statement, “Guess girls are interested in science only if you can find a link to food, love, or makeup,” I see the attitude—all too familiar to those of us whose work crosses into social science—that nothing but cell biology and genetics constitute real science. The statement suggests that work dealing with quotidian matters such as food, love, or even makeup cannot possibly be scientifically rigorous or interesting. I would argue instead that rigorous scientific thinking thoroughly informs my research on the influence of politics on agricultural production and consumption, particularly with respect to obesity and food safety. My lecture to the “girls” on 16 February will be much the same as the talks I give to mixed-gender audiences of researchers, university professors, health professionals, government officials, and business leaders. I am curious to know whether social scientists are as tired as I am of colleagues characterizing our work as insufficiently scientific to be taken seriously. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.326.5960.1597-d