NPR ran an interview with astronomer and Cal Tech professor Shrinivas Kulkarni yesterday, and overall it's relatively mild. But less than two minutes in, Kulkarni manages to say something dumb: "Many scientists, I think, secretly are what I call 'boys with toys'." It's one of those quotes that makes you cringe and roll your eyes simultaneously. Even NPR's Joe Palca cautiously repeats the phrase back to Kulkarni. Twice. "Boys with toys," he muses. "Boys with toys."
But with his ill-advised, off-the-cuff remark, Kulkarni touches on a big problem: defaulting to a certain gender (usually male) when referencing a diverse group of people is not only dated and closed-minded, it also doesn't make sense — and many people don't even think twice...
Astronomer calls scientists ‘boys with toys,’ #girlswithtoys proves him wrong
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