This week I chose to read the New York Times article, “She Wanted to Do Her Research. He Wanted to Talk ‘Feelings.’” I was drawn to this article because I thought the title was very unusual and I was interested in finding out what it was about. Professor of geobiology, Hope Jahren, wrote the article discussing reasons she believes behind why many women leave science and STEM fields. The article goes on to address specific examples of one of her students who was emailed by her advisor professing his admiration for her and stating basically she is just going to have to deal with it until one of them leaves. The author highlights other specific examples of similar emails and confrontations made.

As a female going into a STEM field, I found this article very enlightening. While I personally have not experienced any sort of discrimination and/or any uncomfortable confrontations, I realize how this could become such a serious issue. Behavior that may be deemed harmless and romantic in reality just becomes a form of harassment and becomes dreadful for the women who have to deal with it. Reading this article actually made me angry thinking about how much these inappropriate dealings are looked over until far too many women have left their once-beloved fields because they feel so uncomfortable they cannot even do their work. While this may not affect me at the moment, I plan on doing my own undergraduate and graduate research as well as in my professional career and do not think it is fair to have to worry about being harassed.