Forbidden Fruit

I wouldn’t see it that way. I pressed my palms to my ears, pivoted, and walked away whenever anyone wanted to discuss Women In Science. The NSF essay question about “promoting diversity” begged me to Google the stats on female physicists and mathematicians, but on principle, I refused. Instead, I delivered an argument for improved interdepartmental relationships, a need for diverse labs composed of scientists trained in different fields.

I believed that because our mothers burned their bras, there is no longer the need.

But enlightenment is not, as I had thought, an irreversible process and in the present culture war, our opponents are a frightening throwback to the 1950’s.

I expected that the Waxman report on abstinence-based education would reveal scientific inaccuracies, religious bias, and a notion girls have the responsibility to resist; guys cannot help themselves.

I did not expect the following:

One book in the “Choosing the Best” series presents a story about a knight who saves a princess from a dragon. The next time the dragon arrives, the princess advises the knight to kill the dragon with a noose, and the following time with poison, both of which work but leave the knight feeling “ashamed.” The knight eventually decides to marry a village maiden, but did so “only after making sure she knew nothing about nooses or poison.”

The curriculum concludes:

Moral of the story: Occasional suggestions and assistance may be alright, but too much of it will lessen a man’s confidence or even turn him away from his princess.

Choosing the Best, Inc., Choosing the Best Soul mate, 51 (2003). This book is the latest in the “Choosing the Best” series and was published since the most recent round of SPRANS grants; it was reviewed because the other Choosing the Best books were all among the most popular programs.

Please, the stereotype of a man with an ego that can be shattered with a few suggestions is ridiculous. I will patronize my little cousin and throw a game a Scrabble, but the idea that it’s necessary to do this for some future husband is – I mean, give that man a little credit.

sigh

I can’t bring myself to argue with the story of an apple to convince you that 2+2 is not 5.

I will continue to act like I live in a world that’s as I’d like it to be.