Last Wednesday, the European Space Agency landed the Philae, an unmanned lander, onto a passing comet nucleus, the first achievement of its kind and a momentous event in the history of human space exploration. The project took approximately 11 years of preparation, and the lander's journey through space took another 10 more years. It is an achievement made only possible by the joint efforts of the men and women who have devoted their lives to their respective fields, a truly remarkable feat that speaks volumes to humanity's everlasting reach and its ability to shoot for the stars.
Maybe you weren't aware of any of those details. I wasn't either until I decided to research for this article. Rather, more likely than not, you've probably heard about this awe-inspiring occasion through the puzzling context of one particular t-shirt.
During the live-stream broadcast of the landing, Dr. Matt Taylor, the project scientist, wore what can only be described as a Hawaiian-style t-shirt covered with depictions of scantily-clad women wielding large guns in true comic style form. The internet was immediately set ablaze, with protests and criticisms directed at the rather cartoonish shirt. Many deemed his attire as sexist and misogynistic, and the public backlash was so intense that the next day Taylor gave a tearful apology.
Reasons for why the act of wearing that shirt was sexist range from its objectifying portrayal of women to arguments that it was an example of how uninvited women are in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). While I have my own personal opinions on this matter, I shall leave it to people far more qualified than I am to hash out the details in this very heated debate. Indeed, it appears that while initial reaction was strongly negative, in the days to come, numerous supporters have cropped up everywhere to voice their support, from op-ed pieces on Time and the Telegraph to a Facebook page dedicated to the now infamous shirt. There's even an Indiegogo page gathering donations to send gifts to Taylor and his team in response to the negative backlash, and in its first three days, it managed to surpass its original goal of $3,000 by over 600 percent (and counting). Obviously, opinions vary wildly.
It is true that there is a disproportionate amount of women working in STEM fields. Also true is the fact that women are constantly on the backend of criticism and harassment in the workplace. And while these concerns should by no means be trivialized, I cannot help but wonder if such an outrage over a stupid shirt could also be generated over other far more serious crimes of gender discrimination.
Because at the end of the day, whether you like it or not, Taylor's shirt is just a shirt (never mind the fact that the shirt was also a gift from one of his friends, a female designer). When was the last time you saw such immediate and public anger against the practice of child brides in Mali, or discrimination of education against girls in Afghanistan? How about the criminally underreported rape cases in India or the forced abortions of female fetuses in China?
Yet, a cursory glance at trending topics reveal that none of these are making headlines, or at least headlines as big and as controversial as the ones Taylor's shirt seems to be generating. Why is that? Taylor's shirt isn't even the cause of gender-based discrimination in STEM fields. At its worst, it is a very small symptom of a far larger and systematic problem, one that Taylor probably unwittingly played a part in. And yet again, discussions on the actual reasons as to why women don't go into STEM fields are rare. Instead, we as a public would much rather point fingers at a hapless man who made an innocent mistake than actually address these issues. This disappoints me.
I am not saying that we shouldn't criticize what we believe is wrong. Far from it. If you truly believe that Taylor's shirt is misogynistic, then by all means voice your opinion. That's the beauty of living in America. But please, for the sake of women everywhere, don't just stop at his shirt. Talk about finding solutions as to how we as a nation should encourage our future generations of women to get into science. Discuss the root causes as to why such discrimination occurs in the first place. Don't just sit there in front of your laptop and lambast an innocent man who never should have been made into the face of injustice. And finally, if his shirt is really enough to cause such an outrage in your heart, then please also find in it an outrage for the other injustices out there.
One more thing: remember that we just sent a probe more than 300 million miles away into space and placed a lander onto the body of a speeding comet. Now go back, and read that last line again, and this time actually think about that. Such an achievement could not have been done without the brilliant men and women working tirelessly to further our knowledge of the universe. And while it is important to become passionately furious over the wrongs in the world, there's also something to be said in taking a moment to celebrate what we've accomplished so far.
– Eugene Ahn is a College senior from Raleigh, North Carolina.
