It's tempting to think that scientists are judged based solely on their science, and nothing else. But science is a part of society, so biases and prejudices are there, from both outside and inside. These are stories from The Story Collider about those biases.

These are a mix of stories. Some of biases preventing people from going into science, and finding refuge there. Some are stories of the prejudices of scientists themselves, and the ways those keep people from succeeding, and hold back science. Some have happy endings, some don't. It's a vast and complex topic, and this is a small, but hopefully eye-opening sample.

Bias and the sciences

Top 50: Storytelling

James Brown's Original Funky Divas

While studying bioengineering, Craig Lehocky discovers he's different from the other students.

Craig Lehocky's tinkering runs deep. He currently develops surgical robots as an M.D. / Ph.D. student at CMU and University of Pittsburgh. Before that, he worked on prosthetic limbs controlled by the brain at the University of Pittsburgh. And even before that, he restored cars, houses, and guitar amplifiers at the University of his Dad. He doesn't know what tinkering his future holds, but hopes it unfolds in Pittsburgh.

Every week the Story Collider brings you a true, personal story about science. Find more and subscribe to our podcast at our website: http://storycollider.org/

Help keep us going! If you love the podcast, please donate here: http://www.patreon.com/thestorycollider

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Craig Lehocky: Do you always talk like that?

As a science teacher, Marjorie Winther has both entertaining and troubling times with her students, but when she brings them to the South she discovers a whole new side of them.

Marjorie Winther has been performing stories and comedy for over ten years. She is the winner of the 2012 First Person Arts Grand Slam. Marjorie has been voted audience favorite at numerous First Person Arts story slams.  She recently performed at the WHYY Connections Festival, The Women in Comedy Festival at Plays and Players and at the Risk! Show in the Free Library Author’s Event.  She also performs stand-up comedy in clubs and at fund-raisers and corporate and community events.  She was a finalist in Laff-A-Lot productions Philly’s Funniest contest. Veteran comic Paul Lyons calls here “warm, real and disarmingly astute.”  When not performing, Marjorie designs and delivers corporate training programs and leads professional workshops. Before moving into the corporate world she taught middle and high school science in the Chicago Public Schools.  She holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Beloit College and a Master’s Degree in English from Southern Illinois University.

Help keep us going! If you love the podcast, please donate here: http://www.patreon.com/thestorycollider

Marjorie Winther: Lighting A Fire

Marine biologist Shayle Matsuda adapts to his new identity as a transgender man while on assignment in the Philippines. 

Shayle Matsuda researches sea slugs as an MSc candidate at the California Academy of Sciences and San Francisco State University.  When not in the lab, he hosts the interactive science happy hour series “Science, Neat” in San Francisco. He uses watercolors and digital media to make science more accessible to wider audiences, and creates and facilitates unique research experiences for high school students underrepresented in STEM.  Shayle’s science communication footprint includes the California Academy of Sciences, Nerd Nite SF, Ignite at AGU, and regional winner of NASA/Nat Geographic’s FameLab competition

Shayle Matsuda: My First Expedition As A Man

On the first day of grad school for her PhD, a fellow student tells Bianca Jones Marlin that she doesn't really belong there.

Bianca Jones Marlin is a neuroscientist and doctoral candidate at New York University, School of Medicine. She received dual bachelor degrees in biology and adolescent education from St. John's University. Her time as a high school biology teacher led her to the laboratory, where she now studies the neurochemicals that govern communication and dictate social memories. Bianca investigates how the brain changes in the presence of the "love hormone," oxytocin. Her research aims to understand the vital bond between mother and child, and uses oxytocin as a treatment in strengthening fragile and broken parental relationships.
Bianca, a native New Yorker, lives in Manhattan with her scientist husband, Joe, and their cat Santiago Ramon y Cajal, who is named after the famed neuroanatomist.

Bianca Jones Marlin: It's Because She's Black

An offhand sexist comment enrages Renee Hlozek, and leads her to dig into how her colleagues really view people who aren't the stereotypical scientist.

Dr. Renee Hlozek is the Lyman Spitzer Jr. Postdoctoral Fellow in Theoretical Astrophysics in at Princeton University; the Spitzer-Cotsen Fellow in the Princeton Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts and is currently a Senior TED Fellow. Her research focuses on theoretical cosmology; as a member of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope she measures the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation to decipher the initial conditions of the universe. When not investigating the cosmos, she loves to sing (loudly), read and bake. She makes a mean Negroni.

Renee Hlozek: Who Looks Like A Scientist?

If I Knew

I Found You

You Can Make It If You Try (Single Version)

You've Got The Power (Alternate Take)

A Little Taste Of Soul

Yolande, 82 ans, est esthéticienne. Depuis 50 ans qu’elle arrache des bandes de poils, elle a vu les maillots s’échancrer et, avec eux, les corps se libérer. Mais s’épiler entièrement le sexe et la raie des fesses, est-ce vraiment une libération ? Et au fait, pourquoi on s'épile ? Ou pour qui ? Pauline Boulet a posé son micro entre les cuisses des clientes et la marmite de cire chaude.
Enregistrements : octobre 17 - Mise en ondes & mix : Arnaud Forest - Réalisation : Pauline Boulet

La guerre du poil

Chase Masterson's role on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine inspires her to think about how she can help others.

Chase Masterson is best known for her five-year breakout role as Leeta on Star Trek DS9 & the Doctor Who Big Finishaudio spinoff, VIENNA. Seen Guest-Starring on The Flash, Chase is a fan-favorite for her roles starring opposite Bruce Campbell (SyFy'sTerminal Invasion), as well as opposite Jerry O’Connell, Tom Baker and Sylvester McCoy, and Co-Hosting with Ryan Seacrest and Scott Mantz. Feature film roles include starring in Stephen King’s Sometimes They Come Back for More, Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles, and e-One’s critically acclaimed sci-fi noir, Yesterday Was a Lie, as well as playing herself in Miramax’s Comic Book: The Movie, directed by Mark Hamill, and an early role in Robin Hood: Men in Tights, directed by Mel Brooks (SQUEEE!). During the run of DS9, TV Guide Readers’ Poll named Chase Favorite Sci-Fi Actress on TV.  A devout feminist, Chase has consoled herself from being listed in AOL’s 10 Sexiest Aliens on TV, Screen Rant’s 15 Most Stunning Aliens on Star Trek and in Femme Fatales 50 Sexiest Women of the Year by creating a dizzying list of charity initiatives with ChaseClub: fundraisers for the firehouse most affected by 9/11, Caring for Babies with AIDS, Hurricane Katrina, and a long-standing relationship with Homeboy Industries, where she has mentored women and men coming out of gangs for the past 9 years. Chase is the Founder of the Pop Culture Hero Coalition, the 1st ever non-profit organization to stand against bullying, racism, misogyny, LGBTQI-bullying and cyberbullying using comics, TV and film. 

This story originally aired on The Story Collider's podcast on May 25, 2018, in an episode titled "Science Fiction: Stories about Aliens and Zombies." Find the transcript and other information here: https://www.storycollider.org/stories/2018/5/9/science-fiction-stories-about-aliens-and-zombies

Chase Masterson: A Lowly Dabo Girl Trying to Make the World a Better Place

Où en sont les femmes avec leurs désirs et leurs plaisirs ? "Un podcast à soi (épisode 18)" interroge la sexualité des femmes au prisme du féminisme.
Pourquoi les femmes hétérosexuelles sont-elles moins nombreuses à déclarer se masturber ou atteindre l'orgasme que les hommes ? Pourquoi les femmes lesbiennes sont-elles plus nombreuses à connaître l'orgasme dans les relations sexuelles ? Comment atteindre l'égalité en terme de rapport au plaisir, aux désirs ? Et peut-on réellement déjouer les rapports de domination qui s'immiscent dans nos chambres à coucher et nos fantasmes ? 

Avec :
- Hanane, Sy, Chloé, Manon, Anne, et Pierre
- Nathalie Bajos, sociologue, démographe, directrice de recherche à l'Inserm
- Delphine Gardey, historienne, directrice de l'Institut des Etudes genre à la Faculté des sciences de la société de Genêve.
- Nina Faure et Yelena Perret, autrices de « Notre corps nous-même »
- Ludivine Demol, enseignante à l'Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis, autrice d'une thèse en cours sur la consommation pornographique dans la construction identitaire genrée des adolescentes
- Natacha Chetcuti-Osorovitz, sociologue, enseignante-chercheuse Supélec-Université Paris-Saclay

Texte :
- «La folie en tête», Violette Leduc
- «Mémoire de fille», Annie Ernaux
- «Thérèse et Isabelle » Violette Leduc
- «Au delà de la pénétration » Martin Page
- « Rivière Sale » Elisa Monteil et Raphel Mouterde
- « Lettre à Lou » Guillaume Appolinaire

Remerciements :
- Alicia Bacouel, sexothéapeute, autrice du livre « Les dessous du plaisir »
- Camille Froidevaux-Metterie, Professeure de science politique, et chargée de mission égalité-diversité à l'Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne. Autrice de « Le corps des femmes, la bataille de l'intime »
- A Sara, et au collectif Femmes en lutte 93
- Jüne, de la page Instagram Jouissance Club
- Stella des Rendez-vous Sex Care
- Coeur, autrice de Féérie
- Libraire Violette and Co

Liens :
- Pour soutenir le film de Nina Faure : Le plaisir féminin
- Festival Des sexes et des femmes, autour des parcours de sortie de l'hétérosexualité en association avec Acceptess -T
- Editions Hors d'atteinte
- La compagnie Dans le ventre
- Le cabinet de curiosité féminine
- Article : La sexualité des femmes : le plaisir contraint
- La revanche du Clitoris Maia Mazaurette et Damien Mascret
- Coïts d'Andrea Dworkin
- Les sciences du désir par Delphine Gardey et Marilène Vuille
- Enquête sur la sexualité en France, NathalieBajos, Michel Bozon
- La Révolution du plaisir féminin, Elisa Brune
- Le nouveau rapport Hite
- Tomber la culotte , brochure sur la santé sexuelle des femmes lesbiennes
- « Connais-toi toi-même » Guide d'auto exploration du sexe féminin Clarance Edgard-Rosa

Enregistrements : mai 19 - Prise de son, montage, textes et voix : Charlotte Bienaimé - Réalisation et musique originale : Samuel Hirsch - Lectures : Laure Giappiconi - Accompagnement éditorial : Juliette Hamon - Illustrations : Anna Wanda Gogusey

Sexualité des femmes, la révolution du plaisir | Un podcast à soi (18)

Amélie a 40 ans. Les yeux noisette. Des fossettes. Plus de cheveux ni de sourcils et un seul sein. Pourtant, elle est belle, Amélie. Belle, sexy, et surtout en vie. Son cancer, elle l’a battu à plate couture. Une fois l’ennemi à terre, c’est un autre combat qui a commencé : celui du retour à la drague et au sexe. Au micro de Louise Régent, elle livre ses astuces d'été pour conclure à coup sûr, même après un cancer et des séances de chimiothérapie. Parce que fuck la mort et vive la vie. 
Cancerdusein.org

Enregistrement  : novembre 18 - Mise en ondes & mix  : Arnaud Forest - Prise de son, montage, textes et voix  : Louise Régent

Pécho après la chimio

Whether we wear a lab coat or haven't seen a test tube since grade school, science is shaping all of our lives. And that means we all have science stories to tell. Every year, we host dozens of live shows all over the country, featuring all kinds of storytellers - researchers, doctors, and engineers of course, but also patients, poets, comedians, cops, and more. Some of our stories are heartbreaking, others are hilarious, but they're all true and all very personal. Welcome to The Story Collider!