The other day, a scientist announced the detection of the Higgs Boson in a presentation using the much-maligned Comic Sans font. Dialog about the discovery focused on the design faux pas. I made this tweet, which felt pretty clever at the time:
dude who announced the Higgs Boson in an unfashionable font knows how women speakers feel when journalists talk about clothes and weight
— Jessica Kerr (@jessitron) July 5, 2012
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Other people found it pretty clever too. 76 retweets, 60k impressions, my most-retweeted ever by a factor of five.
Except.. the new elementary particle wasn’t announced by a dude.
@jessitron @MrAlanCooper huh. perhaps she knows how it feels when people hear of her work and assume she must be a man.
— Lisa Ballard (@BasilLeaf) July 7, 2012
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js My apologies to Fabiola Gianotti. Congratulations, as well.
I made the assumption “prominent scientist = dude.” Pardon me while I smack myself in the forehead.
Heh, girls just can't catch a break