Hysterics

[astra_nomer]

Actually, I find this to be far from hysterical.

Oh, and let's not forget, hysterectomy was named so because it was thought that by removing this particular organ it would reduce hysterics in women.

Comments

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

Well...no, not exactly.

It was named "hysterectomy" because the Greek word for uterus was "hysteros", and because "-ectomy" refers to the removal of things.

"Hysteria" was so named because it was believed (by extremely enlightened doctors of yore :/ ) to be caused by the uterus, the hysteros, detaching from its normal position and wandering about the body.

So, correlation, but not causation.

[astra-nomer.livejournal.com]

I stand corrected. I knew the words had the same root, anyway. Maybe that's what Summers was talking about all along, that damn hysteros getting in the way of scientific thought...

[ilai]

I read it and thought, "oh, it's a George Will column" with the requisite eye-roll.

Though I'm a little bit confused about the entire Lawrence Summers scandal, since theoretically the talk was at a closed session, and no one has transcripts of what was actually said... which means it's all based on impressions of those attending?

[astra-nomer.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think I have to learn to let conservative babble roll off my back. It kind of helps that they like to resort to name-calling to prove their point.

My impression is that the comments were leaked by one of the attendees, possibly Nancy Hopkins herself. But he admitted to saying them, and even defended them to some extent.

Anyway, it makes you wonder how committed he actually is to trying to increase the representation of women on Harvard's faculty.

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

I think both Summers and Hopkins suffered from forgetting that how you say what you say matters, and that who you are is just as relevant. For the president of a university that doesn't have a great track record for women to say "well, maybe it's natural differences" is more worrisome than for an actual researcher in the field to suggest it. And for a proponent of "there are no differences" to say "I had to leave or I would have fainted or thrown up" is terribly foolish and does not advance the cause of women's dignity. I'm sure she wouldn't have fainted or thrown up, she was trying to make a rheetorical point - but so was Summers.

Sigh.

A mess all around.

[astra-nomer.livejournal.com]

Certainly neither of them acted particularly well. Unfortunately, Summers is in a position of greater power, so his mistakes and prejudices are going to affect people more than Hopkins' mistakes and prejudices.

[rms10.livejournal.com]

I only got as far as "supposedly insufficient" before I had to stop reading. I hate George Will. (I have a column he wrote about Title IX on my door, with my comments scrawled in angry red pen.)