Dana Scully and Olivia Benson

Lipstick On My Lab Coat

I am currently brainstorming an article about how Dana Scully from the X-Files was an inspiration for me (to be a scientist and a strong, intelligent woman). I have been doing some background reading of blog posts, webpages and a thesis on Scully, what she represented and how she inspired countless young female X-Files fans. Scully and the X-Files were big topics for online fan forums.

I too am a great fan of Detective Olivia Benson from Law and Order – Special Victims Unit. This strong female character also had a great influence on me (although it was less career focused and more a realisation of my sexuality (my fascination with Olivia set me on a path to discovering my lesbian sexuality)). There are many blog posts, websites and fanfic stories discussing Olivia being an inspiration for women and also a subject of lesbian desire.

I find it interesting that…

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Dana Scully

I was thinking about Dana Scully this morning while getting ready for work, and what an inspiration she was to me when I was a teenager. I was reminiscing about my teenage years and my daily bus ride home from the coast to my home in a small town among rainforest on a mountain. And thinking about those times, Scully popped into my head. Her character on the X-Files inspired me to pursue science, and specifically forensic science (and forensic pathology) as a career. My career path took an alternative path and headed towards microbiology, research and now administration in scientific and university environments. But I still credit the figure of Scully – analytical, scientific and strong, for me being a scientist. And as a teenage girl who knew she didn’t look like and was not like everyone else, she was an inspiration – a pretty redhead who wore suits, carried a gun and used her intelligence and knowledge, and not her looks and sexuality, to succeed.

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Femme Scientist Pin-up Girl

Lipstick On My Lab Coat

Lesbian femme scientist pin-up girl from the I Heart Brooklyn Girls Calendar 2009. Awesome! Retro styled, femme woman presenting the sexy side of science. A bit of fun, not too serious. Could this be an image to use for getting lesbian women interested in science?

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Dana Scully

I borrowed a book from the university library entitled, Science, Technology and Culture by David Bell. And I was pleased to see a few mentions of the X-Files. I was even more delighted to see a short paragraph about Dana Scully and what her character represented / conveyed. The paragraph read, “…. one aspect of the show that was seen positively, at least by some people, was its depiction of a female scientist in the central character Dana Scully (Wilcox & Williams, 1996). In playfully upturning the association of males and scientific rationality, Scully was the show’s sceptic and scientist, a foil to Fox Mulder’s ‘irrational’ belief in alien abduction and government conspiracy. An extratextual effect of this narrative commented on at the time was that it reopened the door to science for girls and women who had previously been excluded or had themselves from education or employment in ‘male’ science.’ For myself, seeing Scully as a female scientist and being rational and analytical spoke volumes to me. It was an affirmation of being a female scientist and showed to me that I too could do it. And Scully provided inspiration and a career path at the time – forensic science (which I didn’t end up pursuing). For me she was a great role model and the X-Files greatly stimulated my interest in science and my own rational thought and critical thinking. Book – Bell, David (2006) Science, Technology and Culture, Open University Press, McGraw-Hill Education, Maidenhead, UK.

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Blonde hair – DOESN’T mean you are dumb!

Margaret Thatcher, a chemist, lawyer, politican and prime minister of Britain for 11 years, had strawberry blonde hair. So who says blondes are dumb and ditzy! I used to feel strange having long blonde hair and studying science. What did people think of me? I didn’t want to be seen as a ‘dumb blonde’. I been teased in high school about my hair colour and what that implied. I didn’t have that at uni thank god. When I was halfway through my PhD (I finished it as a MPhil – Master of Philosophy), I finally made the leap and died my hair red. I’d wanted to for a while – I liked the fiery and passionate nature it implied, my favourite actress Rita Hayworth had red hair (dyed) and I never thought being blonde was really me. And I was making a statement against all those who wanted to be blonde – I was blonde and didn’t want to be! So I have had red/strawberry blonde hair since and it suits me and its as though I should have been born a red-head with my colouring and passionate nature. I’m no longer blonde haired, but I still believe society should stop ridiculing blondes for being dumb. And isnt it rather strange and ironic that so many women want to be blonde and it is seen as a sexualised and pornographic ideal when blondes are ridiculed for being dumb, ditzy and incompetent?

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The Ideal Lesbian Role Models

What would the ideal Lesbian role models look like? They would be diverse to reflect the diversity of lesbian women. They would have to encompass bisexual, queer and transgendered woman. Also the different identities some lesbian/bi/queer women identify with such as femme, butch, lipstick etc

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Female Scientist Role Model – Kay Scarpetta

Kay Scarpetta from the Patricia Cornwell series of crime novels, also a Forensic Pathologist, was a role model and an inspiration to me while growing up. She two was a smart, tough lady.

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Female Scientist Role Model – Sam Ryan from Silent Witness

Sam Ryan (played by Amanda Burton), a Forensic Pathologist in the BBC Drama Silent Witness was another role model of mine while growing up. She was a gutsy, determined, smart Northern Irish lady. Shame she left the show

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Dana Scully

Image via Wikipedia

I was watching the X-Files movie last night on television, and it took me back to my teenage years and my immense admiration and fascination with Dana Scully. She was a strong, intelligent, beautiful, professional scientist and FBI agent. She was my idol. I wanted to be a Forensic Pathologist like her. I wanted to solve crimes using science. She inspired me to want to study science. And watching the movie last night, viewing it from a more mature angle, l realised what a fantastic role model she was. Empowered, intelligent, tough, holds her own, a feminist (or close). And last but not least, as a redhead (not natural though) I thought it was so fantastic that this smart sexy scientist was a redhead! I certainly would use Dana Scully as an example of a good female scientist role model (and as redheaded role model too!)

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Lesbians in Science – Why am I discussing this?

Some people may wonder why I am discussing this topic. Perhaps feminists or gay activists or just people surfing the net. Some may wonder why I am even raising this issue when there is a more accepting, equal, anti-discriminatory climate in 2011. Some feminists and gay activists may question why I am distinguishing lesbians in the scientific field when gender and sexuality shouldn’t matter.

I am an empowered woman, a feminist, a lesbian and scientist. While studying science both as an undergrad and postgrad, I didn’t face any prejudices or discrimination (that I was aware of) because I was a female. I only came out in the later years of my masters, but even then I didn’t experience any negative issues. If anything, the people I told (friends, colleagues, my supervisor) were positive about it and didn’t make much of a fuss at all.

I’m not solely protesting the lack of women in science, or the lack of visibility of female scientists or the lack of visibility of lesbian scientists. I believe these are important issues and I strongly believe in encouraging greater visibility of female scientists and greater encouragement for young women to pursue careers in science. 

I am simply addressing a topic that is interesting to me. I am intrigued as to how many women in science identify as lesbian or bisexual (or queer for that matter too). And I want to know more about their experiences, their stories, their contributions and achievements in their chosen fields. I’m curious to see how many women have had positive experiences and have found that their gender and their sexuality hasn’t been an issue. We hear about scientists (that are women) and their achievements. But I have the opinion that there should be more promotion and positive images of female scientists in the media.

As a young woman I was inspired by stong female scientists (on TV and in books) to pursue a career in science. Positive representation of women in science is a great thing. And I wonder how many young lesbian / bi / queer / trans women out there who have an interest in science would be encouraged to pursue their dreams if they see other queer women that have done this. Maybe there is a need for lesbian scientist role models? I think there is! And discussing these issues is an initial step.

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