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syntheticorange:

the-future-now:

An audience member stopped World Science Festival host Jim Holt from speaking over physics professor Veronika Hubeny

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From Marilee Talkington’s post:

So, after thinking about this over night, I’ve decided to share something that happened at the WORLD SCIENCE FESTIVAL yesterday afternoon in NYC that changed me. Or rather made me step into who I am in a larger way.

As some on my feed have seen, I was live-feeding the beginning of the panel discussion on FB. That panel was made up of some of the greatest and most famous minds in the world in Inflationary Cosmology, String Theory, Cosmology and Physics based Philosophy. The panel was made up of 5 men and 1 woman. And the moderator was a science writer and journalist for The New Yorker.

In the first hour of the panel discussion you can see clearly, if watching the video, that Veronika Hubeny, the only woman on the panel is barely given any opportunity to speak. And the Moderator, Jim Holt even acknowledges this.

In the last 20-30 minutes of the 90 minute discussion Jim Holt finally pushes the conversation to Hubeny’s field of expertise, string theory, and this is what ensued:

He asked her to describe her two theories of string theory that seem to contradict one another.

And THEN, without letting her answer, proceeded to answer for her and describe HER theories in detail without letting her speak for herself.

We could clearly see that she was trying to speak up. But he continued to talk over her and dominate the space for several minutes.

I should say that this panel was taking place in a large auditorium as it is an extremely high-profile and always sold-out event. And the panel discussion was being live-streamed across the world and they say that millions of people watch these videos after they are made public. (Which they already are).

So at this point, after seeing very clearly that she was not going to be given space to speak and in fact having her own theories described to the audience by the moderator, I am in full outrage. My body is actually beginning to shake. The sexism is beyond blatant. It is happening on stage and NO ONE, not a single other physicist or panelist is stepping in to say anything about it. And I can hear other audience members around me, both men and women becoming more and more agitated with what is happening. Jim Holt, even at one point, asks Veronica a question and she laughs because he has been answering his own questions about her work…and he makes fun of her for ‘giggling’.

So at some point while he is Still talking about Her theories, I just can’t handle it any longer.

With my hands shaking,

I finally say from my seat in the 2nd row of the audience, as clearly, directly and loudly as possible;

“Let. Her. Speak. Please!”

The moderator stops.

They all stop.

The auditorium drops into silence.

You could hear a pin drop.

And then the audience explodes with applause and screams.

Jim Holt eventually sat back, only after saying I was heckling him
And he let her speak.
And of course, she was brilliant.

———————–

So, the panel discussion ends.

My hands are still shaking. I’m still upset by the incredible sexism that has been demonstrated this afternoon. But I also realize that I just spoke up in an auditorium full of people that are listening to people that are considered gods in the international science world. I was just overwhelmed by it all

We get up to leave.

And then it happens.

Person after person come up to me. Both men and women.

The first woman, right behind me, reaches over and embraces me and says, “Oh my god. what you said was the most important thing that was said all day. Thank you. Thank you.”

And then people start filing out of their aisles and wind their way over to me:

“Was that you? Thank you so much for speaking up. Thank you.”

“Was that you? Oh god, what he was doing was horrific. Thank you. I wanted to do something but didn’t know how”

“Was that you? I wish I had the courage to say something, thank you! Thank you so much”

“Was that you? You said what everyone here was thinking. Look I had even been writing in my notebook what you eventually said (shows me his notebook with ‘let her speak’ written over and over.) But you said it. You said it. Thank you.”

“Was that you? Thank you! I felt so powerless to do anything.”

And on.

So we were all thinking this.

—-
So I walked out. And my friend who was sitting about 8 rows behind me, came up to me with a huge grin and said
“That was you, wasn’t it? Of course it was. YES!!!!! I will be telling this story for years.”

And the whole time, my hands are still shaking. And I’m felling light-headed. And I just want to scream out into the lobby “WHY IS THIS SEXISM STILL HAPPENING? WHY, does someone like me, with No status in that room, have to be so extraordinarily bold and speak up? And why was it so frightening to do so?”

And I’m thinking. “God, please god let this be an opening for those that were here today and the tens of thousands that watched the live-streaming of the panel yesterday and the hundreds of thousands that will watch the video this year- to speak up when we see this happening. And please let me not be afraid to do this again
…and again
…and again”
Because it was scary.

Please keep giving me courage.

This reminds me of a time when, I was just in my first year of psychology and we were taken to a psychiatric hospital to go to a series of conferences. We had to wear a white coat even though we weren’t doctors to differentiate us from patients (fucked up psychiatry), so, alright, we sat on chairs and listened to the conferences.

Then- I don’t remember anymore how this started, it was 3 years ago, but they start discussing rape and a (real) doctor gets up and says “yeah, sexual assault is bad but sometimes we have to consider the victim’s role on it, like their clothes or where they were” (or something like that).

That made me quietly boil over

he was a real doctor

no one was disagreeing with him– rather otherwise

Then I couldn’t just quietly boil inside. I had to do something.

I was very scared, mind you, I was like 19 surrounded by mental health professionals, they’re wearing a white doctor’s coat because they’re actually doctors, not so they would be let inside like I was. I didn’t even have the words formed in my mind, what was I gonna say? i had to be eloquent, had to be convincing

So I raised my hand and the monitor said, “yes, doctor?”-and I had to take a breath because my classmates around me knew I wasn’t a doctor, for christ’s sake I looked 17 back then. I didn’t look like a doctor.

But still I looked ahead, to where that awful victim-blaming doctor was and said:

“It’s never the victim’s fault

It doesn’t matter the circumstances, it is never the victim’s fault”

I couldn’t say more, I think I just repeated the same sentence again and sat down. I don’t remember if they actually responded to what I said. I wasn’t eloquent at all, I was shaking in my seat, regretting I said such clumsy words at all.

Much more time later, I came to realise something

My words weren’t (truly) meant for that doctor and others who think like him, it’s not likely my clumsy words changed his way of thinking.

My words, and words such as this, in which you defend the oppressed, the silent- they’re meant for them, for those among the crowd who need to hear them to feel better, to know they’re not alone.

I’ve stood up to talk a few more times, I’m still not as eloquent as I’d like to be, but what I’m doing is for them, for the people like me who have lived with fear of who they are or what’s happened to them. It’s not for the others- if they’re willing to listen, they will, if they’re not, fuck them. But I’m here for all the guys who’ve been through shit like me, and I’ll try to stand up as much as I dare–for them, and for me.