The ESA and the Shirt

Last week we landed on a comet, which was a fantastic. But we also saw a glimpse into the ESA that was not very positive. When a scientist appeared on camera for the ESA wearing a shirt covered in scantily clad women in some interesting poses, that sent a message. An unintentional message, but a message all the same. To me, it said that the ESA does not put professionalism front and centre. It said that it is appropriate for men to wear something like that to work in a field with real problems with female uptake and retention. In the grand scheme of things, wearing a shirt is a small thing, but it throws a light on some of the still present problems in science.

The scientist in question has apologised, which I welcome. To be honest I wouldn't have had a problem if the scientist had worn the shirt on his own time. But here's the real kicker, He has apologised, but not the ESA. Where is their apology? My main problem with the whole episode is with the ESA's lack of action. How did the higher ups let someone go on live broadcast wearing that shirt? Why would they think that such clothing was appropriate for a prestigious and important event? Why did no one ask him to change? Why are they not taking some responsibility for the incident? That's the thing that worries me. Not that one person did something which was misguided and a bit silly. It's the fact that the ESA stood back and let it happen, I'm sure they didn't think, but that's a problem in itself. What else are they not thinking about?

Another aspect to this story is how Boris Johnson has waded in. He had a piece published in the Telegraph yesterday where he laments that people have picked up on the shirt and the issues it hints at. In some way's Boris' article is laughable, He calls people who mentioned that the choice was less than stellar abusers. I'm sorry Boris but if you want to see abuse, maybe have a look at what women in the video game industry have been bombarded with. Did the scientist get rape and death threats? No. Did he have to leave his house? No, but women speaking out about the video game industry did. Why aren't you speaking up for them? In this case people pointed out that the shirt wasn't the best choice and I have yet to see any of these bullying tweets, but surely if there were any they would be all over the newspapers wouldn't they? So Boris well done for telling us we should apologise, and well done for ignoring the real issue. Maybe you should have read Alice Bell's wonderful article before you started writing.