R-E-S-P-E-C-T, Find Out What It Means to Me

Dr. Lee - courtesy of ScienceSeeker.org

When we ask the question of why there aren't as many women of color in the STEM fields, underneath the question is an assumption that everyone's experience in these fields will be the same.  That everyone will feel the same level of stability and welcome once they establish their careers in science academia or in other science fields.

However, what I've heard from friends of mine who have reached the post-doc level is that the level of respect and welcome they experience is less than those of their white male peers. 

Recently, the science blogosphere was abuzz with the story of Dr. Lee, a biologist and blogger for Scientific American.  She was solicited by another science site to write a guest post for them for free.  When she politely defined, the website representative called her a "whore."

The frustrating part of this event for me, was that the initial responses went into a discussion about why freelance writers have the right to reject no-pay or low-pay gigs.  But the crux of this problem for me is that it is disrespectful and unprofessional for some to call anyone a "whore" in professional correspondence, no matter what response they may have received for their request. 

Dr. Lee wrote up her experience in a blog post on her Urban Science blog on Scientific American, who then deleted her blog post.  At this point, there have been no consequences for the person who made the insulting comment or for Scientific American attempting to silence Dr. Lee's voice. 

BuzzFeed has a deeper report on the story.  Check it out HERE.