Carly Cassella writing at Science Alert has a problem with numbers. No problem with narrative - she gets that just fine. Just numbers. Her article:
Turns Out We Still Have a Huge TV Scientist Stereotype Problem
Black Panther. Gravity. Annihilation. Hidden Figures. In the past few years, the big screen has been graced by some truly awe-inspiring female scientists and engineers.
But even though we now have Shuri to outsmart Bruce Banner and all seven of his PhD's, data shows that media portrayals of scientists are still reinforcing an outdated early 20th century stereotype of what a scientist is.
A new analysis from the Lyda Hill Foundation and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media reveals just how little diversity there truly is on screen.
The study examined over 1,000 leading or major characters taken from the most popular movies and TV shows between 2007 and 2017.
No matter how much progress we think we have made, it appears that the media's narrow portrayal of scientists continues to reinforce the same classic stereotypes about them being brainy white men.
OK - I get your drift. Carly's Thesis (paragraph seven):
Of all the STEM professionals portrayed in film and television, male scientists once again outnumbered female scientists by nearly two-to-one.
Emphasis mine. Now, from paragraph twelve:
Women are noticeably missing in the scientific arena, holding less than a quarter of all STEM jobs in the US, according to a 2015 study. But will more role models actually fix this discrepancy?
OK so Carly is right in one aspect of her article, there is a disproportionate representation of Women Scientists as portrayed on Television and Movies. In reality, they are four to one. In the media, they are two to one. In the media, they are over-represented by a factor of 200%, not the other way around.
But that would not fit the narrative now, would it.
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