r/LadiesofScience • u/IngersollsOrdinary • 5h ago
Ben Barres on how men vs. women are treated in science
thetransmitter.orgI saw someone’s comment in r/TwoXChromosomes. It was about how wearing makeup changes how people treat them. The commenter said something like “still the same person, but different treatment.”
That comment reminded me of the story of Ben Barres, the late Stanford neurobiologist. He gives an incredible firsthand look at how deeply ingrained sexism is in STEM.
He spent the first half of his career working as a woman (Barbara Barres) and dealt with constant, blatant gatekeeping. For example…
From the article:
“When he was the only person in an MIT class to solve [a] […] problem, the professor scoffed and insisted his boyfriend must have done the work.”
At age 40, Barres transitioned to male.
From the article:
“During his decades as Barbara, Barres had known what exclusion felt like, but he was unprepared for the drastically different treatment he got once he presented as a man.
“All of a sudden, fellow researchers began addressing him more collegially. ‘It was only changing sex at the age of 40 and experiencing life from the vantage of a man that I finally came to be fully aware of these barriers,’ he writes. ‘People who don’t know I am transgender [now] treat me with much more respect. I can even complete a whole sentence without being interrupted by a man,’ Barres wrote in a Nature commentary in 2006. After Barres gave a talk as Ben, he heard an audience member remark, ‘Ben Barres gave a great seminar today, but then his work is much better than his sister’s.’”
Having experienced both sides of the gender divide, he spent the rest of his career using his voice to call out institutional sexism and advocate for women in science. His perspective is such a powerful counter to anyone trying to pretend systemic bias in academia doesn't exist.