Quickies
Skepchick Quickies 2.25
On February 25, 1870, Hiram Rhodes Revels became the first African American to be sworn into the United States Senate (and he was representing Mississippi).
- Nebraska College Kid Says Feminism ‘Achieved Its Goals’ So Women Should Shut the Fuck Up Now – It’s good for a morning laugh.
- 10 Celebs You Didn’t Know Were Atheists – From CriticalDragon1177.
- Sexist photo makes Facebook joke 200 times more popular, and prompts rape comments – From Amy.
- Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us – The madness of the American medical billing system. This article is long, but well-researched.
- Even Astrophysicists Notice Gendered AP Study Guides – From Mindy.
- Why the Chinese government is out to suppress the careers of educated women – From robro.
- The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food – I’ve been trying to cut back anyway, but this article definitely gave me some motivation.
Thanks for the links. I always love Jezebel’s articles making fun of sexists.
Me too, and I love reading Lindy West’s writing. When she writes something, I sit down, get comfortable, and get out the popcorn. And I make sure my husband is nearby so I can yell out the best quotes.
While I agree that that photo of the AP tests is suspicious, I don’t think four covers is a sufficient sample size to draw any firm conclusions. This could be the result of simple oversight. Or the pictures could have been assigned randomly.
Since there are more than four AP tests, this should not be difficult to check…
Thanks to Amazon, I have a longer list. The cover models I found for the Princeton Review’s 2013 edition [they are different from previous year’s editions, of which I did not see many] are:
Chemistry: white female [This was the first one I saw. It seems to put NDT’s conclusions into doubt.]
US History: Asian female
English language: black male
Calculus AB and BC: black male
Psychology: black male
Biology: white male
Physics B: white male
Physics C: [a different] white male
Statistics: Asian female [a brave choice]
Environmental Science: white male
World History: white male
English literature: black female
Spanish: white female
SAT: white female
ACT: Asian female
US Government and Politics: white male [an even braver choice]
Economics: white female
Human Geography: white female
SAT [math]: white female
European History: black male
So, in the math and science tests, [chemistry, calculus, psychology, biology, both physics, statistics, environmental science, economics, and SAT math] the score is males 5, females 4. I’m thinking that NDT is looking at a biased sample. I would not be surprised if the photos were randomly assigned.
Oh, and I should note that several of the models have their faces on multiple tests. Also, I apparently cannot distinguish between Hispanic and non-Hispanic whites on the basis of black and white photographs. [Assuming that they thought to include some Hispanic models, which I imagine they did.]
5 males and 4 females. I don’t think that’s statistically significant.
But then, I’m not an … um … Asian female, so don’t take my word for it.
Thanks for taking the time to look into it!
I can’t see the photos in that particular link. But from what I’ve gathered, the issue is that there are fewer female models on the cover compared to male. Correct me if I’m wrong. I’m curious what would happen if the cover photos were removed altogether.
There are two female models and two male models. The issue that Dr. Tyson raises is that the females are on the English and history books, while the males are on calculus and physics.
Thank you for clarifying.