Women distract: It’s natural, no shame

Off late, the Internet is buzzing with the reactions and disagreement with the opinion of Nobel Laureate Tim Hunt. Professor Hunt expressed a very personal opinion where he stated; “Let me tell you about my trouble with girls. Three things happen when they are in the lab: You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticize them they cry (sic).” These thoughts of his took the world by storm impeaching him to be a chauvinist and anti-feminist. We live in a world where we nurture individuality and promote people to express their unfazed thoughts dubbing it as a reality check. But, the truth is, we expect people to articulate something that can be easily assimilated.

As far as feminism is concerned, it is a thing to be practiced not preached. But, somehow it has become less about awareness of masses towards women rights and more about condemning men. It would have been routine if the same thoughts were expressed about men, but they were voiced against women by a man unleashed the devil of women liberation. It’s not that I am against the sisterhood or trying to stay neutral by supporting Prof. Hunt, but I want to leave him with his opinion. He stated his experience of life that cannot be ripped off.

There are multitudes of feelings that all of us experience irrespective of them being good or bad. We fail to express them because of the social uproar, but we all have them and would appreciate if people acknowledge them without classifying. Today everyone does self-appointed moral policing in matters involving others while tags issues as personal that involve ownself. The kind of reaction that gets generated can be interpreted as, “people listen 50% of what is being said, understand 25% but react 200%.”

Beneath such uproars often are the delicate issues that go unattended and fade into the oblivion. Inter-personal relationships do affect the work performance. Of what I could conclude from the remark was not that girls are a distraction or are emotional, but the impact of these rocky relationships on the work front. Probably Prof. Hunt endorsed separate lab for women not because they distract, but to avoid his vulnerability grapple him thus alienating him from work. Therefore, in spite of reacting to somebody’s personal opinion we must look around ourselves and ask, “Is it so?” If yes, then what can be done? And if nothing can be done, then stop wagging your tongues. However, if the opinion is irrelevant then don’t loose peace of your life and let the person live with his experience.