So you’re a woman!
An assortment of amusing comments on being female, from my recent conference. See also Woman Science Professor’s phrasebook post!
Said by an illustrious, older male in my field to me:
"Isn’t it funny that you and [Famous Woman Professor also at the conference] would choose to wear almost exactly the same shirt today?"
Her shirt was vertically striped in magenta, grey, and blue. My shirt was vertically striped in pink, white and black. His shirt was vertically striped in pink, blue, and white. I laughingly pointed out that they all looked roughly alike– though no more than any other striped shirt!
Said by a conference attendee, after my microphone acted screechy during my talk (interference with another microphone, it turns out):
"You’ll have to take lessons from those girls that sing…" (the national anthem at football games???? I don’t know. He didn’t finish)
I said, "Or from you, if you know how to use the microphone correctly!"
And said by a middle-aged professor in my field, at the end of the conference– he had read my papers but not remembered meeting me in person:
"It was nice to get to know you better. It took me a while to figure out that this [Dr. Shellie’s Last Name] person was a woman!"
(I use my initials on papers, not my first name.)