Is it me or was STEM until recently only a term Americans used?
Hmm, I think there’s nothing wrong with photos to raise awareness of under represented groups in an area, but I think it does need to be genuine. You can’t just plant somebody in a situation for a photo.
[deleted]
The awful cynical headline used to taint this entire article, combined with this..
>By Megha Mohan
>**Gender and Identity correspondent**
just left me thinking about the absolute state of the BBC and journalism in general.
> “This was an example of ‘Photoshop’ diversity, when black women are used for photo opportunities,” she tells the BBC, “I was being used to show he worked in an inclusive team and to secure him funding. I was embarrassed.”
Yes, because various groups have made it clear – and they are right – that seeing people that look like you doing a job, or in a specific situation, help you as a young person see yourself in that role. If your department is determined to give those groups every opportunity, to make sure they are showing as clearly as possible that they are welcoming to everyone, then their photos are part of how they do that.
But then there’s a chicken and egg problem. There aren’t a lot of women in tech, even fewer black women, so how can teams make it clear they’re welcoming? I’m pretty sure “black people and women also welcome” on the job ad isn’t going to have a positive effect. And an all-white photo, even if accurate of the current state of the department, isn’t useful (in this context) if it’s not illustrative of what they want it to be.
So while I understand Ms Chapple’s issue, maybe she should be embracing the benefit – it’s her face that young black women will be seeing, that then prompts the realisition that “hey, I can do that!”. The more visible she is, the greater the chance the next Cynthia Chapple *isn’t* the only black girl in the class. She’s doing a good thing, even if it feels horribly forced and patronising.
Why is it bad? More visibility=more ppl like that person in the field.
Be proud
Feels like one of those can’t win either way situations…
Include her – “I’m just used for photo opportunities!”
Don’t include her – “why aren’t I used for photo opportunities!”
Seems like a no win situation
All white men photo – no diversity, outrageous
Inclusive photo – I’m used as the token diversity icon
I work with a few black people in STEM, one of them used to be a model, and she’s always the one who is being sent out to represent the company at seminars or interviews.
I don’t think it is always just because someone is a ‘black woman’ but maybe because they are a ‘conventualy attractive black woman’?
And I include myself in this but people working at the coal face of STEM tend to be a ugly bunch who are locked in the basement for a reason.
Representation is important but it should not be the main focus of everything. Young women and/or people of colour need to see themselves in all sorts of roles in society, otherwise they will think it is not for them. STEM in particular is an area that has traditionally been filled with white men, outside of biological sciences and medicine, anything that changes that is undoubtedly good. Inclusion still needs to be genuine though and people can smell it when it is not. Those posters that show a ‘rainbow’ of people smiling or fake laughing are not convincing anymore, companies need to have policies or statistics that show they care about diversity and inclusion instead.
If Gordon Brown writing about the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and the role he thinks the UK should play is ‘not UK related’ then I fail to see how American racial politics are more relevant.
More cringe from the left and diversity/inclusion brigade. It doesn’t matter if it is well meaning, these initiatives are condescending and ultimately reduce that person to a figurehead and token hire.
I don’t see how this is problematic? Surely it’s better to celebrate her achievements and hopefully inspire others, than pretend she doesn’t exist and hide her out of sight?
if she doesnt like it, then could she not simply refuse to be photographed?
I can certainly understand that not every minority person wants to be the trailblazer. They just want to get on with their lives.
What medical affliction does she have that prevents her from saying “no thanks”?
So unsurprising. Companies now want to show how diverse they are, and will happily exaggerate that diversity.
Part of this is on us though, a company or ad that only shows a bunch of white people or a bunch of men is now very noticeable for viewers, and could result in bad publicity, even if shear random chance led to that result
Tech inclusivity is hilarious, there is always some mixed race female hired for no reason other than to meet a quota and I always just feel sorry for them.
I’m a first year CompSecurity student and there’s a total of 0 girls in my classes, let alone BLAME students.
Realistically from what I’ve seen the tech industry won’t change much in the foreseeable future.
A few years back me and my then girlfriend were going to agricultural college in the North of England to do a gardening course.
The place is overwhelmingly white, like in the region of 100% my white girlfriend had dreadlocks at the time, so they put her on the front of the prospectus, I guess in a nod to diversity.
Sometimes you’ve just got to make do!
Oh I’m so sorry you get to be a role model for millions of young black women for jus doing your job,hard old life
A guy I used to work with used to joke about this. His parents came from Sri Lanka and moved to Newcastle in the 70s.
Every event he’d go to he would without fail be randomly chosen or captured in photos used as promotion after the fact.
This story is everything that’s wrong with modern race politics.
This woman had a problem with being the only black girl in her STEM class, and not seeing faces like her – as if people can only be inspired by people that look just like them. (Can a woman or a different race person not be inspired by the likes of Whitty and Van-Tam? Are white Londoners not represented in politics now Khan is mayor?)
But then when she’s asked to help a non-diverse group portray a more welcoming and diverse appearance, she complains about that too.
And she is running an exclusive, gender and race specific club.
Her thinking’s not even coherent, and the whole idea that a black girl can only be persuaded to do something or aspire to a career if she’s surrounded by other black girls always seems rather patronising and incorrect to me.
Ditto every BAME person who works at the BBC or London Fire Brigade
I’m starting to see all the diversity in ads for banks, clothing etc as kind of cringe, not because I’m threatened by or resentful of people of colour but because the happy, carefree, middle class PoC I see in the ads seem to be from a different place than the normal, ordinary PoC that I live and work around.
I know the ad companies always want to make the product look more glamorous than it is but the additional racial angle is weird especially when you realize someone got paid money for it.
Like you’ll never see the ads targeted towards halal butchers, market stall traders, labourers, kebab/chicken shop owners, fruit pickers or what have you. Its always the same copy paste business casual analyst types, now in a range of curated skin tones.
No hostility, no poverty, no social issues at all. Just the same old programming with token diversity-washing.
25 comments
Is it me or was STEM until recently only a term Americans used?
Hmm, I think there’s nothing wrong with photos to raise awareness of under represented groups in an area, but I think it does need to be genuine. You can’t just plant somebody in a situation for a photo.
[deleted]
The awful cynical headline used to taint this entire article, combined with this..
>By Megha Mohan
>**Gender and Identity correspondent**
just left me thinking about the absolute state of the BBC and journalism in general.
> “This was an example of ‘Photoshop’ diversity, when black women are used for photo opportunities,” she tells the BBC, “I was being used to show he worked in an inclusive team and to secure him funding. I was embarrassed.”
Yes, because various groups have made it clear – and they are right – that seeing people that look like you doing a job, or in a specific situation, help you as a young person see yourself in that role. If your department is determined to give those groups every opportunity, to make sure they are showing as clearly as possible that they are welcoming to everyone, then their photos are part of how they do that.
But then there’s a chicken and egg problem. There aren’t a lot of women in tech, even fewer black women, so how can teams make it clear they’re welcoming? I’m pretty sure “black people and women also welcome” on the job ad isn’t going to have a positive effect. And an all-white photo, even if accurate of the current state of the department, isn’t useful (in this context) if it’s not illustrative of what they want it to be.
So while I understand Ms Chapple’s issue, maybe she should be embracing the benefit – it’s her face that young black women will be seeing, that then prompts the realisition that “hey, I can do that!”. The more visible she is, the greater the chance the next Cynthia Chapple *isn’t* the only black girl in the class. She’s doing a good thing, even if it feels horribly forced and patronising.
Why is it bad? More visibility=more ppl like that person in the field.
Be proud
Feels like one of those can’t win either way situations…
Include her – “I’m just used for photo opportunities!”
Don’t include her – “why aren’t I used for photo opportunities!”
Seems like a no win situation
All white men photo – no diversity, outrageous
Inclusive photo – I’m used as the token diversity icon
I work with a few black people in STEM, one of them used to be a model, and she’s always the one who is being sent out to represent the company at seminars or interviews.
I don’t think it is always just because someone is a ‘black woman’ but maybe because they are a ‘conventualy attractive black woman’?
And I include myself in this but people working at the coal face of STEM tend to be a ugly bunch who are locked in the basement for a reason.
Representation is important but it should not be the main focus of everything. Young women and/or people of colour need to see themselves in all sorts of roles in society, otherwise they will think it is not for them. STEM in particular is an area that has traditionally been filled with white men, outside of biological sciences and medicine, anything that changes that is undoubtedly good. Inclusion still needs to be genuine though and people can smell it when it is not. Those posters that show a ‘rainbow’ of people smiling or fake laughing are not convincing anymore, companies need to have policies or statistics that show they care about diversity and inclusion instead.
If Gordon Brown writing about the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and the role he thinks the UK should play is ‘not UK related’ then I fail to see how American racial politics are more relevant.
More cringe from the left and diversity/inclusion brigade. It doesn’t matter if it is well meaning, these initiatives are condescending and ultimately reduce that person to a figurehead and token hire.
I don’t see how this is problematic? Surely it’s better to celebrate her achievements and hopefully inspire others, than pretend she doesn’t exist and hide her out of sight?
if she doesnt like it, then could she not simply refuse to be photographed?
I can certainly understand that not every minority person wants to be the trailblazer. They just want to get on with their lives.
What medical affliction does she have that prevents her from saying “no thanks”?
So unsurprising. Companies now want to show how diverse they are, and will happily exaggerate that diversity.
Part of this is on us though, a company or ad that only shows a bunch of white people or a bunch of men is now very noticeable for viewers, and could result in bad publicity, even if shear random chance led to that result
Tech inclusivity is hilarious, there is always some mixed race female hired for no reason other than to meet a quota and I always just feel sorry for them.
I’m a first year CompSecurity student and there’s a total of 0 girls in my classes, let alone BLAME students.
Realistically from what I’ve seen the tech industry won’t change much in the foreseeable future.
A few years back me and my then girlfriend were going to agricultural college in the North of England to do a gardening course.
The place is overwhelmingly white, like in the region of 100% my white girlfriend had dreadlocks at the time, so they put her on the front of the prospectus, I guess in a nod to diversity.
Sometimes you’ve just got to make do!
Oh I’m so sorry you get to be a role model for millions of young black women for jus doing your job,hard old life
A guy I used to work with used to joke about this. His parents came from Sri Lanka and moved to Newcastle in the 70s.
Every event he’d go to he would without fail be randomly chosen or captured in photos used as promotion after the fact.
This story is everything that’s wrong with modern race politics.
This woman had a problem with being the only black girl in her STEM class, and not seeing faces like her – as if people can only be inspired by people that look just like them. (Can a woman or a different race person not be inspired by the likes of Whitty and Van-Tam? Are white Londoners not represented in politics now Khan is mayor?)
But then when she’s asked to help a non-diverse group portray a more welcoming and diverse appearance, she complains about that too.
And she is running an exclusive, gender and race specific club.
Her thinking’s not even coherent, and the whole idea that a black girl can only be persuaded to do something or aspire to a career if she’s surrounded by other black girls always seems rather patronising and incorrect to me.
Ditto every BAME person who works at the BBC or London Fire Brigade
I’m starting to see all the diversity in ads for banks, clothing etc as kind of cringe, not because I’m threatened by or resentful of people of colour but because the happy, carefree, middle class PoC I see in the ads seem to be from a different place than the normal, ordinary PoC that I live and work around.
I know the ad companies always want to make the product look more glamorous than it is but the additional racial angle is weird especially when you realize someone got paid money for it.
Like you’ll never see the ads targeted towards halal butchers, market stall traders, labourers, kebab/chicken shop owners, fruit pickers or what have you. Its always the same copy paste business casual analyst types, now in a range of curated skin tones.
No hostility, no poverty, no social issues at all. Just the same old programming with token diversity-washing.