*sigh* i just read a post about some person who refused to go to a "big"
meeting because of some perceived notion that it is just a bunch of men
showing off to each other...hmmmmm....i go to meetings for one main thing...
to present my work and by doing so establish my contribution to that
particular body of work...I do not go to party..i do not go to shmooze.
What ultimately matters in my field is not your personality but
the data you gather and present. I feel very comfortable attending these
meetings because i am sharing what i have found, not sharing something as
ambiguous as a percived personality or integrity. I know that we as humans
do not work on such simplistic terms but i choose to dwell on the
objectives of science, not allow myself to be caught up in all the mind
games that go on with many of the egos that happen to also participate in
Science. I am a woman, a 4th year graduate student and have presented a
talk at a very large meeting. Not once did i feel intimidated by a male,
to the contrary, those that were presenting in the same minisymposium were
my equals as far as perceived "power dynamics" went (tho i was the
youngest and only grad student presenting at that particular
minisymposium). I came away with the feeling that these people as well as
the audience that i spoke to saw me as a person who was presenting data,
not a token of some minority.
I have learned through some of the more positive influences in my
graduate career (namley my advisor) that it really is quite exciting to
know your field thoroughly and to get into the lab and come out with
significant findings. This is where the satisfaction should come from, not
the prestige and inflated ego. This has really helped me in not comparing
myself to others and using other people's careers as a measuring post for
mine.
Nika
