So this is pretty much completely unrelated to books, but it does have to do with a TV show, does that count? It’s also a short rant about the treatment of intellectual females in popular media, so feel free to skip if you don’t feel like reading.
I was recently watching Try, Try Again Season 2, Episode 2 of Eureka. I have loved this show so far. It has great characters, a fun nerdy plot line and general geekiness. However, the recent episode deals with promoting one of the main female characters to head of the big research facility. She is a doctor. She is now a boss of a lot of people. Her predecessor was referred to as Dr. Stark or his first name; he was also male. She is referred to as Dr. Blake sometimes, but also often Ms. Blake by many people. What the hell. A man who is referred to as Mr. whatever when it is known that he has a doctorate will be insulted or correct the mistake and that would be normal. Why is it that women don’t get the same respect when they have earned the same title and probably had to work harder to do so given the continued inequality of support for females in the sciences?
If anyone ever calls me Ms. Johnson after I complete my doctorate, I will correct them immediately and with a smile, not because I’m a snob, or a witch, but because I worked hard for that degree and deserve that dedication and intellect to be acknowledged as much as my male colleagues.
End of rant. Thanks for reading if you made it this far. I’m not normally one to stand on a soap box, especially because these sorts of social issues are so often complex and difficult to find a good solution for. This is not a complex or difficult problem and popular media and everyone else should call women by their proper titles when it is obvious what those titles are.
I would love to hear others opinions, especially if someone knows of a good reason why this mistake would be accepted or a good way to deal with it without coming off badly (since that’s a whole other issue that women have to deal with more than men).
Best,
-A
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