Quelle Surprise!! Women Climate Scientists Routinely Threatened With Rape, Death
One scientist was called Climate Barbie. Another was described as an ugly fake scientist. A third had an erect penis drawn on her car window while she was in the field researching sea-level rise.
Such is the life of many female climate scientists in 2018.
All researchers face the risk of being criticized when speaking publicly about their findings. But women in the field describe being attacked based on their gender. Theyve endured insults, sexual taunts and degrading comments about their professional acumen. Most of their harassers use social media, email and the phone for their attacks. But theres a fear that it could become physical. Threats of death, rape and other forms of violence have left a number of researchers feeling concerned for their safety. They worry about opening envelopes with handwritten addresses and answering phone calls from unfamiliar numbers. Anonymous emails that try to entice a response cause agitation.
We get this additional layer of hate mail, and people, I think, find it easier to put us down because we are women, or feel like they have more right in telling us what is right or wrong despite our expertise, which is always frustrating, said Andrea Dutton, a geologist at the University of Florida and an expert on sea-level rise.
Dutton said she often hesitates to answer the phone after shes quoted in the media. The feeling can last for days, prompted by harassing attacks in the past from unfamiliar numbers.
One prominent researcher who has spoken about being harassed asked not to be quoted in this article. She worries it would trigger a new wave of trolling. Her concern goes beyond online attacks and hateful phone calls. Shes worried for her safety. The attacks arent new. But some scientists say the harassment theyre enduring is becoming more personal, increasingly sexist and less focused on their scientific conclusions. Some suggested that it coincides with rising societal tensions over gender and race, laid bare by President Trumps political rise.
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https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/as-climate-scientists-speak-out-sexist-attacks-are-on-the-rise/