Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!decwrl!labrea!agate!pasteur!ames!haven!uvaarpa!mcnc!ecsvax!dkeisen@gang-of-four.stanford.edu
From: dkeisen@gang-of-four.stanford.edu (Dave Eisen)
Newsgroups: comp.society.women
Subject: Re: Countering discrimination your children will face
Message-ID: <5403@ecsvax.uncecs.edu>
Date: 23 Sep 88 17:15:36 GMT
References: <5396@ecsvax.uncecs.edu>
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Organization: Mathematics Department, Stanford University
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In article <5396@ecsvax.uncecs.edu> pedersen%math.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU writes:

>I was supported by my parents and teachers too.  The general public is
>a different story.  I have a tale of two math majors to tell.
>
>The first math major is me.  Once I'd declared my college major, I was
>plagued by people telling me:
>
>	"Oh, my, math, that's unusual for a girl to do"
>	"You must be really bright"
>	"You don't look like a math nerd (you're really pretty)"
>	"You don't act like a math nerd (you have social skills)"
>
>I pretty much ignored these comments, considering them the same way I
>consider silly statements like:
>
>	"Math was always my worst subject"
>	"I stopped taking math after 8th grade"
>	"I hate math"

Make that three of us. Of course I don't get "That's unusual for a
girl to do" and nobody has ever accused me of being pretty, but I get
all 5 of the other responses very routinely. These comments never
bothered me too much when I was still in school, but now that I'm a
faculty person it's almost gotten to be too much to bear. I've gotten
to the point where I do my best to not tell people what I do for a
living.

I love Math, I've loved it ever since I was a small boy. My job is
exactly what I've dreamed of all my life. And I love my work, but the
social hassles have taken most of the fun away from it.

I'm not sure how this all differs for men and women. I think society
still expects men (more so than women) to be primarily interested in
making money. I know I get lots of people who don't understand why I'm
a mathematician when I could be out in the real world making twice the
money I make. I guess the world never understands starving artists.

And I've never heard of a little girl dreamily saying "When I grow up,
I want to marry a Mathematician."



Dave Eisen                                  dkeisen@Gang-of-Four.Stanford.EDU
                                            439 Del Medio Ave., #39
                                            Mountain View, CA 94040
                                            (415) 941-6810