Following a recent study, scientists claim to have discovered the reason why men always seem to take credit for women’s work: “‘Cause we can, duh.”
“It’s really not surprising, but men take credit for women’s work because it’s almost too simple,” says Matthew Franken, head of the research team that conducted the study. “We already know that men tend to be more assertive go-getters than women. Usually, when women do something cool, they just aren’t quick enough to claim it. And seriously, no one ever seems to call it out, so nothing’s stopping researchers from doing whatever they want. I mean, when you get down to the science of it, women are just kinda dumb.”
Historically, many scientific inventions and discoveries have been made by women, but they have ultimately been accredited to men. Traditionally, this has been due to male superiors acting as though they own the ideas of their subordinates, or through scientists simply stealing each other’s work and not crediting them. However, these new studies suggest that female scientists are to blame for their work being stolen, due to a “lack of initiative, assertion, and speed to file a copyright.”
“Look, I’m not trying to be offensive here, but science never lies,” continues Franken. “If you discover something and you don’t immediately publish it, then who can really say it’s wrong for someone like me to publish it under my name instead? I, for one, can’t tell you how many times I’ve been struggling in my research when an unclaimed idea has basically fallen into my lap. I don’t think I’d even be doing this work had it not been for all the amazing opportunities I’ve been ‘building on’ — thanks, ladies!”
Since its publication, the study is gaining a cult-like following, mostly from men, as a result of its “tell it like it is” results. However, due to its controversial findings, the study and its proponents garner their fair share of harsh critiques.
“I, for one, support this ‘survival of the fittest’ mentality when it comes to credit,” says Caleb Hess, a researcher at NIH. “I mean, if you didn’t want me publishing ‘your work,’ I guess you should’ve patented it before it rightfully became my work. It’s really not my fault I’m smarter and faster than you.”
“You get why that doesn’t make sense, right?” adds Sarah Calloway, another researcher at NIH and head of the institution’s Ethical Science Committee. “Stealing our ideas doesn’t make you smart; if you were really smart, you would’ve come up with your own. This just makes you an asshole … Wait, are you stealing my ideas, Caleb?” The Hess findings on unfair hiring practices against female professors is to be released within the month.
Hannah Lykins is a fourth-year student at UCSD.
[…] * Men Are Taking Credit For Women’s Work, And Now We Know Why […]
Sting (Gordon Sumner) and Stewart Copeland are misogynist plagiarists of female poets/scholars in music. They think that because I have a huge, ugly nose with big pores, that no one will believe me about my talents, way back to 8th grade graduation, honorary mention for creative writing and later, I won an audition for a slot on the radio on KLCC Eugene. I also have a bachelor of art’s degree in music, so I think people better consider that it’s true, before I go completely insane and lose my mind from all the abuse and evil people wanting to play “wicked witch” in my dreams.
What a friggin’ loser this Franken is. Have you no moral compass you thief? And shame on you Hannah Lykins for dignifying such a low life, bottom feeder. Ya that’s some real intelligent legacy in the making Franken … that you are a thieving FAKE. Grow some balls, take some social grace courses in life and go and eat dirt. You are nothing but a PIG.
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I just came across this article. I think sometimes males and sometimes females too unknowingly claim credit for women’s work… if something resonates with them they think they thought of it themselves. They pick up the ideas of others as input without acknowledging it has a source and then process / sythensize it and then think they thought of it themselves…because they didn’t get it at first, and once they got it they thought it was original to them. Time and time again women I know and myself have been aghast when males have repeated back to us what we had already said. That this happens to women often in my experience seems because the tendency to not acknowledge women or recognise that an original concept etc. came from them is deeply ingrained in some male’s behaviour, in a primal kind of way, and is also cultural … they just automatically absorb women’s originality as a kind of feed. Then if a little voice in the background does suggest maybe it wasn’t their idea after all, their ego shuts that down and justifies the absorbing of other people’s original ideas as their own. If they are given proof that a women had the idea first they might go as far as to say they thought of it too, independendently. So bottom line to me is women seem often hit with a double whammy here: some males are slow to catch on or catch up and when they do their competitive streak and ego makes them claim / steal ideas as their own, even if this is instinctive behaviour and they don’t realise they are doing it. So the problem is in part symptomatic of a patriachal culture that instinctively does not see women as equals and sees their creativity as a feed, something to be claimed and absorbed rather than as something belonging to someone else. Women obviously are not the only ones who face these problems and they won’t go away until the culture shifts away from thinking males are superior and entitled to absorb and claim the creativity of others as their own.