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Sexual harassment and assault in Astronomy and Physics

  • By Angela Collier
  • June 28, 2024
  • 49 Comments
  • Less than a minute
  • 13 Views
  • 1 week ago

Sexual harassment and assault in Astronomy and Physics

I hate it here. Two hours on serial sexual assault in physics and astronomy. Watch or don’t.

#AstroSH #MeToo

Know your rights (tips on making Title IX complaints):

Support for victims:
RAINN:
The National Sexual Assault Hotline is available 24/7: Telephone: 800.656.HOPE (4673) Online chat: online.rainn.org Español: rainn.org/es

source

49 Comments

  • Reply
    @Tfaonc June 28, 2024

    Administrations and faculty should absolutely not be doing anything to protect our cover up for predators. I also don't believe it's the university's job to investigate them. That's what we have a justice system for, why not use it?

  • Reply
    @elfanarion June 28, 2024

    Feynman and Krauss in the same video. Damn, didn't know about both of them. This hurts so much that the first subconscious reaction is "no, you must be wrong".

    And this subconscious reaction hurts me even more.

  • Reply
    @stephenmcdermott4929 June 28, 2024

    Thanks!

  • Reply
    @joeybones2323 June 28, 2024

    I'm devastated and disappointed in people(men) who call themselves adults who behave and talk to other people this way. It takes a lot of strength to make a video on this topic. I hope you get the chance to focus on research

  • Reply
    @Psalmanazar1 June 28, 2024

    You said nobody was going to sit through this whole thing. I think a lot of people did.
    I did. It was really eye-opening for me. Thank you.
    Also I really like your choice of books. Pratchett is the bomb.

  • Reply
    @ss-ee3gs June 28, 2024

    Consider urself fortunate. I don’t think ur physically hurt. If it makes u feel better, I’m a male POC, who was given a blow to the back by a very respected astronomer on the last day of class while washing my hands in the science building restroom. It’s been about two months, and am still injured. They gave me workers comp. But….no one will hire me as an instructor to work now in the fall. This is at a liberal arts university in central NY. What upsets me is I tried avoiding the faculty due to aggressive behaviors, yet still got hurt!

  • Reply
    @wallhackio399 June 28, 2024

    This video made my day much worse. Also, I am now subscribed.

  • Reply
    @Dominoes0 June 28, 2024

    Re sexual harassment training in chapter 5: Maybe show them this video as a core part of its curriculum.

  • Reply
    @HobieH3 June 28, 2024

    I was especially taken by the "inflection point" graph, and I think I remember that incident, which is far too sanitizing a word for such a heinous act. On the plus side, youll have a hard time besting the horrible "like and subscribe" timing. Sorry if this is weird but I got home late from an amateur astronomy event and it's almost 4AM. Like your going to read a 2 year old comment. Maybe I'll skip The Adjunct Problem and just watch "Nanette" for the 3rd time.

  • Reply
    @reagancoursey4015 June 28, 2024

    As a young woman in college pursuing a career in physics, thank you so much for shining a light on this. It’s among my worst fears that it might happen to me. Also, I had no knowledge of Feynman’s predatory behavior towards women, and had been taught to view him as a rockstar among physicists. Thank you for enlightening me.

    Edit: In the PI’s position, I would have reduced the male undergrad’s hours in the lab and at the very least mentioned the incident in the rec letter, if not refused to write his rec letter end of story, or threatened to if his behavior continued after the first time the female undergrad reported it.

  • Reply
    @garnster June 28, 2024

    Hopefully this will open the eyes of the majority of the men in physics to this problem. In physics there are so few women we are mostly unaware of this problem. More guys need to see this video. This problem will not go away until the majority of men become more aware of this and keep an eye out to protect the women in the field and ostracize those rotten apples. Those few predators are only a problem because the rest of the men were blind and allowed them prey on women.
    This is not just a problem in physics but in all male dominated field.

  • Reply
    @rosemarybramante4503 June 28, 2024

    Men who want to help: don’t leave it up to women to intervene.

    I once intervened because a graduate student was talking about his fellow graduate student’s butt in front of her PhD advisor and other professors at a conference. She was not at the conference. He got defensive, and I had to argue with him that it’s inappropriate to sexualize her in like that, especially when she’s not there to defend herself.

    HER PhD advisor AND the other professors at the table remained quiet. None of them intervened to tell the student his conversation topic was inappropriate. It was all on me, a 2nd year PhD student, to set boundaries on this student’s behavior.

  • Reply
    @chrisworthington9296 June 28, 2024

    Bravo, Angela. I wish this video had 10 million views. It deserves 100 million.

  • Reply
    @gnite6 June 28, 2024

    Hey, I just watched the whole video, it's really sad and I just wanted to say that I hope things get better for women in academia and everywhere. These dudes belong in the trash, completely unacceptable behavior. Best of luck to you.

  • Reply
    @georgehatzimanolakis1904 June 28, 2024

    15% experience sexual assault? Those are rookie numbers (doesn't make it any better), but this is a problem in every single industry and every single work place. Then guys wonder why we can't talk to girls or we will go to jail, hmmm that's so weird.

  • Reply
    @JustToaster June 28, 2024

    I'm worried about the sub-starlevel of PI's. How do you know if reasonably-well-known PI from reasonably well-known-uni is a serial harasser?

  • Reply
    @walter274 June 28, 2024

    What? She was using her sexual influence over him. 86 poems! Buying drinks for your students, taking pictures of them, and kissing them. WTF?

  • Reply
    @virahpayam June 28, 2024

    That little girl at the end of this video 🥺💔

  • Reply
    @amurrjuan June 28, 2024

    I feel like part of the issue is men’s stupid idea that history, especially science history, is structured by the feats of “Great Men.” Everyone just assumes that Einstein is the only person who could have ever figured out general or special relativity. And I’m not saying Einstein didn’t contribute, I’m just saying that his contribution wasn’t impossible to replicate by someone else. Same for everything else. All scientists stand on the shoulders of the scientists before them. It’s just a matter of time before someone figures out the next step in the pyramid of progress we’re building. So not only is it bad to still revere someone who has great scientific accomplishments already after committing these acts, but it’s even worse to say “but what about second chances?” When it’s an undergrad or a grad student because they “might” become a “Great Man.” Physics is not about becoming the next Einstein. That’s a very narcissistic view of the whole field and I’m sad that it seems to be the culture of our field. Especially in the modern day, success in science is built on cooperation with others. If you are an abuser, you are a shitty scientist. Period.

  • Reply
    @theq4602 June 28, 2024

    32:16 wait lawrence krauss? Like the guy from TV?
    Wtf

  • Reply
    @ralalbatross June 28, 2024

    I don't even need to watch the video to know what this is about.

    None of this is okay. I've seen it in my own previous department. The academics responsible were not always shitty academics, but they were shitty people.

    It's a genuine problem, and it drives women out of physics. Please keep talking about it.

  • Reply
    @FriedmanArt June 28, 2024

    Thank you for this thoughtful and courageous video.

  • Reply
    @mikev4621 June 28, 2024

    What about having all 'power-imbalanced' interviews recorded ?

  • Reply
    @seldomseen1 June 28, 2024

    Damn, that's a lot of stress! I would back your "kick them out" proposal. I respect the work but I can't co-sign the predatory behavior of these men. I hope your story moves others to action.

  • Reply
    @Am33304 June 28, 2024

    Guys, a lot of us don’t get why this is such a big issue for women. It is. I try to understand it, but the truth is that disregard for women saturates society at such a disconcerting level that it seems like a natural path. It isn’t. Unfortunately, it has taken some serious time and an ongoing effort to get that through my head. and it has been extremely uncomfortable. It’s a real fight for me at least, but it’s NOT OPTIONAL.

    Today it doesn’t matter whether we truly figure it all out. When I get up from this iPad and re-join three-dimensional life I’ll run into my wife, and that underdeveloped muscle of emotional sensitivity will have to work NOW. I ‘ll need to listen. I’ll need to pay attention. I’ll need to feel like a student of life when it comes to women. It’s a modern shift of perspective that doesn’t care about my own “precious” feelings. If you’re married it will save your relationship (s).

    But just do it. Recognize the fact that the sexual harassment affects women in a way you’ll never understand. You need to believe what this physicist is saying no matter if it’s messy or ugly or if it makes no sense. Accept that your blazing and brilliant mind has very real deficits. It’s perplexing and feels all wrong. Tough to take,and painful to admit, even to yourself.

    You❤ aren’t special, you aren’t in charge, you’re just another guy who’s trying to catch up. You’re out of breath, you’re struggling, you feel panic and you feel weak. Just do it.

  • Reply
    @eiseks3410 June 28, 2024

    It's not only for women, it's for men as well

  • Reply
    @Aerik June 28, 2024

    A video about SA has a context warning about Climate Change…JFC Google/youtube, get it together….

  • Reply
    @ELIAHAVAH June 28, 2024

    Something something algorithm something something. Video deserves to be seen about 10–100 times more views than it currently has.

  • Reply
    @thomasfahey8763 June 28, 2024

    Very well considered.

  • Reply
    @SEPR2 June 28, 2024

    I'm a dude. I'm in History of Science and it's just as bad in the humanities. This video was very helpful in giving me ideas for how I can address it in my own field. Thank you.

  • Reply
    @eqfan592 June 28, 2024

    By the time i reached the point of the video that is the thumbnail, i had to pause for a cigarette because i couldn't really stop crying.

    I can't imagine how difficult this was to make, but thank you so much for making it ❤️

  • Reply
    @caesarinchina June 28, 2024

    On 1 hour 14min now, eye opening but sorry to distract from the topic, I just noticed Three body (problem) trilogy on the bookshelf. While I was about to watch ep 16 or 17 of the Chinese version.

    Not sure where this was going, it's good sci-fi anyway, ave

  • Reply
    @Josecannoli1209 June 28, 2024

    Damn bro this is some real journalism…. Angela you have a calling for investigative journalism. You’re Frickin talented man

  • Reply
    @clvnzrdz June 28, 2024

    I feel your sorrow and anxiety..

  • Reply
    @Bobbel888 June 28, 2024

    Freedom of Science is serious topic!

  • Reply
    @the_technosis June 28, 2024

    1:22:48 Hey now, we data scientists don't want them!

  • Reply
    @sea-ferring June 28, 2024

    I made it through the entire video. Despite the fact that you stated this is for you, I appreciate that you put time and effort into this video. I have nothing insightful to add – your commentary said everything. It is important that people who are not intimately familiar with academia and your field of study are aware of these predators (cowards? monsters?). Thanks for doing this – I feel icky but more informed, and this information needs to be known about outside of your field. Thank you for putting this together.

  • Reply
    @tennicksalvarez9079 June 28, 2024

    Wished i watch this sooner

  • Reply
    @craigmhamm June 28, 2024

    "Noone is going to watch a 1:45 video."

    Yet here I am. Great video. Thank you for educating me.

  • Reply
    @Chris-bm5qd June 28, 2024

    Future you posted a brief image of Lawrence Krauss, which prompted me to watch this to the end. Everything I knew about Krauss and Feynman was from Youtube video's featuring these individual in a positive way. More importantly, you provided me a better understanding of what obviously occurs routinely in all fields. Thank-you

  • Reply
    @deirenne June 28, 2024

    The chapter about the inflection point was something I'm already too familiar with [yay for being SA&R survivor .-.], but the way you talked about it made me think about it in the context of just-world fallacy, more specifically, the experiments started by Linda Carli,, Ronnie Janoff-Bulman, Christine Timko and their associates [but also expanded upon and tested again by L. Carli and other researchers], that tested the way people reacted to a fictional story that might have ended with a sexual assault. Turns out, that people can read a same story, with just one last sentence describing the outcome [whether the woman was taken home safely or raped at the end] being the sole difference, and not only think that the outcome they were faced with was predicable and could have been expected, but also if the outcome was the assault, they tended to blame the victim and their behavior — the same behavior that was completely normal to those, that read a story with a neutral ending. This effects persisted even in the later studies with even more extreme differences in the outcome, in which the same description of a date ended with either a marriage proposal or rape. People still, after the fact, believed the outcome could have been predicted and that the outcome was related to the woman's behavior. What's worse, if people from the neutral or positive outcome group were asked to consider likelihood of the violent outcome, as well as to asses how the characteristic and behavior of the story's subject aligns with the negative outcome, they defaulted to blaming the victim and their results were statistically identical to the group that received the rape ending in the first part.

    So translating it to the real world, the same situation, that thankfully ended safely and was stopped before someone was assaulted, would be seen as maybe a little weird, but totally harmless, but at the same time if it would have ended in an assault, it would be perceived as not only something that "obviously" would end in an assault but also blamed on the victim' and their behavior. So if you manage to escape safely, you're hysterical girl that cries wolf even though "nothing happened", but if you were to be assaulted, you were reckless, careless, should have known better and you should have done something to not "let" this happen to you.

    Because, of course, obviously, it is never the fault of the predator, and the responsibility to prevent the attack doesn't lie on institutions, to care for their students and workers, or on the men, to not be f*cking creeps and rapists, it is solely on young women, girls and some young men and boys, to not get assaulted.

  • Reply
    @anti0918 June 28, 2024

    Just finding out about Krauss’s sexual harassment. I was an undergrad at CWRU (graduated in 2006), and remember one afternoon after students were gone, I was sitting on a bench by his office. There was a commotion in his office, and his secretary came out frantic and bawling her eyes out, walking quickly to the restroom. At the time I immediately thought he’d done or said something to her. I didn’t know what to do or who to talk to. Right before I was about to graduate, I stupidly posted a public comment about it on Slashdot, and it got back to my advisor. There was an implied threat of kicking me out, so I made a public apology and took down the comment.

  • Reply
    @achimrecktenwald9671 June 28, 2024

    Anfela, in which country are you living and working? USA, UK?

  • Reply
    @alan2a1l June 28, 2024

    This situation is terrible. This daylight shone under the rock is a huge part of the solution.
    Women can see they're not alone, not helpless, and it can be addressed. I've seen it in other areas, but this is one of those insular areas where the priestly caste protect "their own."
    That leads me to question the ethics of those doing the protecting. They need to see the cost of NOT protecting their students.

  • Reply
    @alexanderlegrove6509 June 28, 2024

    I know it would be a lot of effort for seemingly little return, but I would HIGHLY recommend you re-record this video with your new audio set up.

    This video is SO important, and not just for the obvious reasons. The large majority of people(including my past self) that run apologetics for these kinds of phenomenon are well meaning men that have never been confronted with the first hand experiences of women who have had these struggles. I know because I used to be one of them. While I may have known women who had been sexually harassed or assaulted, I had never heard about their first hand experiences and so it never became apart of my frame of reference. If someone lives there life only ever having seen orange basketballs and one day they get told that there are hundreds of thousands of basketballs out there that aren't orange, they might be able to logically conceive of non-orange basketballs and they might even admit that they exist but they will have a very hard time believing that they're anywhere near as prevalent as they actually are.

    This is all why the vast majority of sexual harassment and assault apologetics aren't defending the idea of sexual harassment or assault, they're calling into question their prevalence. While apologists may argue from statistical grounds, citing studies and what not, the thing that actually brought them to their conclusion/perspective initially is there lived experiences, even though there lived experiences are biased by whatever factors keep men from hearing about women's first hand accounts. As a result, you'll see stuff like:

    "Oh yeah, there are women who get sexually assaulted in University and that's horrible(they genuinely mean this, they're not pro-sexual assault), but it's not nearly 1 in 5. The 1 in 5 study is totally bogus." (The study's not actually bogus, it's methodology is actually pretty tight: The Campus Sexual Assault (CSA) Study, Krebs et. al, 2007 https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/221153.pdf).

    Inherent to questioning a phenomenon's prevalence is questioning whether or not the phenomenon is supported/bolstered by systemic factors. After all, if a problem's not very prevalent or is relatively rare, how could it be systemic?

    Anyways, love your work @acollierastro , this video was very important for me personally in pulling me away from SA/rape culture apologia.

  • Reply
    @jonathanlink2071 June 28, 2024

    Thank you

  • Reply
    @vKarl71 June 28, 2024

    This is a great video, and an important one. I have been very happy to listen to the whole thing. It isn't just a lot of repetition and BS. There's NO need to apologize for the length, which is completely appropriate. Thank You!!!

  • Reply
    @vKarl71 June 28, 2024

    26:10 The story of Lawrence Krauss 34:33 The story of Jeff Marcy, astronomer (See Wikipedia for info on both these people)

  • Reply
    @vKarl71 June 28, 2024

    So much of the responsibility for this unacceptable behavior is attributable to the non-harassers who say nothing & do nothing. It shouldn't be up to the women.

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