The
Daily Mail featured an article on it webpage a couple of days ago
titled “Trainee botanist, 17, who has the delicate job of
pollinating flower that only blooms for two nights a year in bid to
create largest lily in the world” about an attempt by Ventnor
Botanical Gardens to grow the world's largest water lily.
It featured
several pictures of a trainee botanist in a bikini. It mentioned that
she was seventeen three times and that she “had to bravely don her
swimsuit to hand-pollenate lilies”.
This
raises a number of questions that students of the Public Perception
of Science and how science and scientists are portrayed in the media
might like to ponder:
- How did the pictures of the curator of the gardens and the trainee botanist differ?
- Why did the article mention her age three times?
- Would the Daily Mail have been less likely to run the article if it did not feature the bikini shots?
- Do you consider the article to be written in a leery way, did it contain there any innuendo / double entendres?
- Look at the sidebar on the right with links to other articles: is the tone of the article typical of the way the paper portrays women?
- What does the comments section tell us about attitudes of readers? (click on the “view all” button)
- Why do you think the the paper is “no longer accepting comments on this article”
- Is this article typical of the portrayal of women in science? Are there any other stereotypes and might these discourage women to take up careers in science?
Tags:
Perceptions of Science, Public Understanding of Science, Public
Engagement with Science, Science and Society, Women in Science
#WomenInScience
#botany #media #feminism
(I
came across this article via @DMReporter on Twitter)
