The PBS Bobblehead Controversy: Victim-Feminist Science Ladies And The Men They've Co-opted Have Their Panties In A Wad Again
I saw the back end of some Twitter conversations and went to investigate. (I missed this because I was too busy actually writing science -- working on explaining costly signaling so it could be easily understood by ordinary people vis a vis answering a question for my science-based syndicated column.)
The problem is this bobblehead Thanksgiving video -- "It's Okay To Be Smart" -- from PBS Digital and Joe Hanson. (Details on the furor over it below.)
Here's the controversy from Andrew Lapin on Current.org:
A PBS Digital Studios program is dealing with blowback from online viewers and the PBS ombudsman for using bobblehead dolls to caricature sexual harassment of scientist Marie Curie.In the Nov. 11 episode of the irreverent science program "It's Okay To Be Smart," host and creator Joe Hanson welcomes bobblehead figures of famous scientists to Thanksgiving dinner and begins discussing how their scientific achievements reverberate in modern society.
In a running gag that escalates throughout the video, an Albert Einstein doll behaves inappropriately toward a Marie Curie doll. The Einstein doll begins by standing so close to Madame Curie that she complains of him breathing on her. By the end of the episode, Einstein has striped naked, knocked Curie over and assaulted her.
Neither the host nor any of other male characters depicted by bobbleheads, including Charles Darwin, Issac Newton and Nikola Tesla, comment on Einstein's behavior, and Curie is portrayed as helpless.
The video, which has been viewed more than 57,000 times since its posting, drew swift criticism, as online commentators accused Hanson of making light of sexual assault and perpetuating negative depictions of women scientists. Hanson responded in an apologetic Nov. 17 blog post, saying he had intended the Einstein doll "to call attention to the sexual harassment that many women still today experience, often from wannabe Einsteins."
The comment I left on YouTube:
This was humor through scientists being humanized and behaving badly -- as people do. Tesla makes outrageous boasts, for example. One way people behave badly is by hitting on other people who aren't interested. Men do it to women and women do it to men. This video is funny. I deplore those who try to squash any bit of speech that isn't politically correct. The answer to speech you do not like is more speech, not trying to shut down the career of the person who makes speech you have a problem with.
Related -- my response to the Bora Zivkovic witch hunt: "About The Bora Controversy: If There's Anything That Makes Women Unequal To Men, It's The Need To Be Treated Like Fragile Pieces Of China"
The upshot, as I see it: If you feel diminished as a woman and as a scientist because of a video like this, well, I don't think you're much of a person or a scientist.
Men hit on women. Sometimes they do it in a way that is oafish.
Why do men hit on women and not so much the other way around? See basic evolutionary biology. Women are the ones who have babies that need to grow up and be fed and cared for. They are the choosier sex because of it and generally are the pursued rather than the pursuers.
The video is reflecting life. Deal with it ladies -- and all you silly men who feel guilty for being born with a penis and are now compelled to do penance by falling in with the victim-feminists and calling for women to be treated specially instead of equally.
UPDATE: All that's left of the video -- now-censored into "private" status on YouTube:
The reality is, horny Einstein in the video was probably tame compared to horny Einstein in real life:
http://www.cracked.com/article_18559_6-famous-geniuses-you-didnt-know-were-perverts.html
Amy Alkon at November 20, 2013 2:05 PM
I realize it's not your spelling error, but felt the need to point out that LeeLoo might be described as striped naked. Einstein has stripped naked.
Overall though a pretty funny video.
jerry at November 20, 2013 2:19 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2013/11/20/the_pbs_bobbleh.html#comment-4065883">comment from jerryThat's hilarious, Jerry!
And thanks for commenting. I'm a little disturbed that nobody is commenting on this post.
Amy Alkon at November 20, 2013 2:28 PM
Amy said: I'm a little disturbed that nobody is commenting on this post.
Well, I'm looking at the headline -
The PBS Bobblehead Controversy: Victim-Feminist Science Ladies And The Men They've Co-opted Have Their Panties In A Wad Again
Feminists? Panties in a wad? Must be Wednesday.
The WolfMan at November 20, 2013 3:08 PM
Video now listed as private, probably got too much exposure. Can't seem to find another copy (yet) of the video. PBS commented more on it here: http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/11/its_not_okay_to_be_not_smart.html
Instead of being PC, put something out there and let others decide if it's funny or not. and then discuss. grow. not shut down and ignore.
the other Patrick at November 20, 2013 3:18 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2013/11/20/the_pbs_bobbleh.html#comment-4066065">comment from the other PatrickDarn, theotherPatrick -- wish I could find another copy of it.
I wrote to the ombudsman to say I felt the video was funny and included a copy of this post.
If anyone finds another copy (I just looked), please let me know.
Amy Alkon at November 20, 2013 4:13 PM
Why no comments? Haven't seen it, don't watch PBS since they moved Hometime, refuse to be lectured by idiots with causes, and have a daughter who is a scientist. I don't denigrate their accomplishments (Does denigrate offend anyone? Too bad.), nor do I put them on pedestals. Get real, I have changed her diapers.
MarkD at November 21, 2013 4:19 AM
Ditto MarkD (is that you, Dad?). Didn't think it was worth 5 min to watch. The description sounds tacky but maybe it was funny.
Astra at November 21, 2013 6:11 AM
Marie Curie? That would be some 'hot' sex.
smurfy at November 21, 2013 9:26 AM
Smurfy probably knows this, but... Marie Curie's notebooks and papers are (even a century later) radioactive enough that they are stored in a lead-lined vault, and you have to put on a bunny suit and shielding in order to read them.
Cousin Dave at November 21, 2013 9:52 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2013/11/20/the_pbs_bobbleh.html#comment-4067840">comment from smurfyI watched this because I saw science pal Andrea Kuszewski's angry tweets to some of the censorship lovers. Hadn't even heard of the controversy beforehand.
I see this as another example of victim-feminism's toxic influence on our culture. Now even men are so indoctrinated in what is the "right" thinking that they think a silly and actually funny video like this one is a terrible thing.
Again, where are all the people complaining that men were denigrated because Tesla said stuff like, "I used to be a pigeon." Until women can take a joke, they aren't actually equal.
I can take a joke, stand up for myself, realize when that's needed and when it's not. I'm not a feminist -- I'm, as I wrote before, a "personist": for equal treatment for people and not for whining about ridiculousness and demanding special treatment for women.
Amy Alkon at November 21, 2013 9:54 AM
Have you lost any sense of consciousness beyond an aloof, affluent, and Comedy-Central Gnosticism? If a rapist sees the bobble-head video he will do what many insensitive men do. Show it to his male friends, especially those who approve of male dominance. In December of 1997 I attended the 60th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre Memorial.In one building photos displayed the actual occurrence. Two soldiers of the so-called "People's Liberation Army" stopped to look at two Chinese women gang raped by Japanese soldiers. The images were meant to shock. But I knew enough Mandarin to understand the conversation. The two thought the pictures funny and a good idea. Just do it to Japanese women. The picture, intent on shocking us, encourages others.--Dana Roberts, M.A., M.T.S.
Dana Roberts at December 8, 2014 2:30 AM
So basically what Dana is trying to say is that violent video games encourages children to be violent.
Yeah I don't think so.
Nawe at January 10, 2015 10:22 PM
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