You don’t look like a physicist by Stefanie Tafelmeier
Bayerische Zentrum für Angewandte Energieforschung e.V.
“You don’t look like a physicist”. A simple sentence. Yet a challenging one. Having it heard for so many times, it use to trigger the same reaction: Feeling offended – Do I not appear clever enough? Or is it a compliment – looking good, but still not clever?
It is my ego, who makes me feel offended. The familiar feeling of not being good enough. In this case, the particular feeling of not understanding enough, not getting the connection quickly enough, not knowing the solution. Simply: feeling stupid compared to others.
I guess everyone knows this feeling somehow. During studying, there is always the opportunity to compare…if you want to. That is the point. It is always the own ego asking for a competition just to verify that you are good enough. It is not the others. Same with that sentence. It was never meant as an insult and not meant as a compliment either.
It was simply meant as an expression of surprise.
This is where I see the issue. It is not the sentence; it is not my ego leaving me with the thought that someone is questioning my skills as a physicist. The issue is the fact that in the mind of this person – without any judgement – is no picture of a young female physicist. At least not looking like the media shaped stereotype. I am sure male colleagues may have heard that sentence every now and then, but as far as I know, not that often.
Me personally, I am not offended anymore by this questions. I know my ego by now. Nevertheless, I felt unsecure many time before. This sentence was like fuel to the fire. Because, and I guess many would feel the same, if you put so much effort in your study, to graduate maybe even to do a doctorate, it feels unfair that my ability to be a physicist is simply measured by my appearance. I empathize with other women who don’t feel taken serious enough. Or, in the worst case, never enfold their scientific beauty, because they listen to their very own translation of this sentence leading to the decision: “I don’t suit to be a scientist”. That is what breaks my heart and it gives a reason to rethink this stereotype.
Bayerische Zentrum für Angewandte Energieforschung e.V.
Again, there is no reason to fight the fact, that stereotypes per se are existing. As strictly speaking, it is impossible to have no stereotype of anything given a name and a picture once. Changing the stereotype means changing the pictures. Soapbox Science gives a chance to give faces to the female scientists – with all their differences – and give others the opportunity to change their stereotypes. That is why I am happy to be a part of it.
A female problem only? I doubt it! Imagine a two-meter tall, tattooed man saying, “I work as a nursery teacher”. I guess what you would think. However, before saying it, you might would like to rephrase the sentence and say “Thank you for shaking my stereotype.”
Soapbox Science Munich 