After Nobel Prize winner Sir Tim Hunt made headlines with a long, public and shockingly sexist diatribe about why he thought women were more of a distraction than a benefit in labs, hundreds of female scientists have taken to Twitter to call him out on his comments. These female STEM workers are posting photos of themselves at work, decked out in their daily uniforms of lab coats, hazmat suits, hairnets and goggles, with the hashtag #DistractinglySexy.
Photo credit: Flickr/Expert Infantry
The results are not only extremely effective at showing the inanity of the now infamous comments, but they are absolutely hilarious.
Here are some of our favorite #DistractinglySexy tweets:
I’m really glad that Curie managed to take a break from crying to discover radium and polonium #distractinglysexy pic.twitter.com/txYVHoidK5
— Amy Remeikis (@AmyRemeikis) June 11, 2015
Good thing there were no men around or they would have drowned #distractinglysexy #algaefarmerclaire @fish_scientist pic.twitter.com/9tW5iLMQP5
— Erin Eastwood (@eastofthewoods) June 12, 2015
In the name of equality, I’d like to state that old male scientists can also be #distractinglysexy pic.twitter.com/d1mKv3wdvR
— Dan Graur (@DanGraur) June 12, 2015
I did an entire Liver Transplant without crying or falling in love. #distractinglysexy pic.twitter.com/6RdApuzFo9
— Want2opr8 (@drtanthony) June 12, 2015
Hearts in the palm of our hands #distractinglysexy #TimHunt @VagendaMagazine pic.twitter.com/KA1askiwCD
— ash (@ashcl0ud) June 11, 2015
In the field because I’m too #distractinglysexy for the lab. Took ages to find a pic where I’m not crying #TimHunt pic.twitter.com/xtHGGCYmZm
— Jennifer Pannell (@jennypannell) June 11, 2015
These brilliant tweets call out the double standard that women face in many workplace environments, especially in male-dominated fields like science, technology, engineering and math. Since the widespread criticism, Sir Hunt has since resigned from The University College of London.
Tell Us More
What do you think of the #DistractinglySexy campaign? Tell us in the comments below or join the conversation on Facebook or Twitter.
Sir Tim Hunt is lashing out at women because he just “ain’t gettin’ any”.
Lucky in the lab but unlucky in love, as the saying goes.
#DistractinglySexy ROCKS!