About us
Why do we exist?
If you asked someone to imagine what a physicist looks like, they are likely to picture someone who looks like Einstein: a cisgendered heterosexual male, on the masculine side and quite geeky. It is highly improbable for them to imagine a feminine or androgynous person when faced with this prompt. This is a deep rooted issue in our discipline of physics: we may feel the need to conform to a certain picture of a “physicist” to be taken seriously. Often times, this picture comes from the people we see practicing physics.
Physics departments and scientific communities, in general, have been criticized for perpetuating gender and sexual orientation biases. Fortunately, at Queen Mary, we have a group of women and queer people (WQP) practicing physics–whether it be lecturers, postdoctoral staff, PhD students, or taught BSc/MSc students. A WQP society can act as a counterbalance, empowering its members to address and challenge discrimination both within the classroom and in professional settings. This society provides supportive and skill building spaces that are crucial for the building of an academic environment where diverse ideas and perspectives, shaped by varied lived experiences, can offer invaluable insights.
What are the goals of this society?
We are an academic society focused on making physics a more welcoming, inclusive, and equitable place for (WQP) with a final goal of increasing the number of WQP working in physics.
Our 3 main goals are:
- Changing the culture of physics: Through events, activism, and outreach, our society can contribute to shifting the culture of physics from one that has traditionally been patriarchal and heteronormative to one that is inclusive, diverse, and respectful of all identities.
- Increasing the number of queer and women’s voices in physics: supporting WQP to pursue a career in the field of physics research by offering skill building sessions and creating a safe space where they can find solidarity and support.
- Amplifying the voices and contributions of women and queer physicists, both historical and contemporary, especially in contexts where credit was given to other people.
Why the intersection of women and queer people?
According to many fourth wave feminist thinkers and queer theorists, women and queer people share a similar root source of oppression: the patriarchy and its gender norms. Most of the physicists which we read about through textbooks and other media are heterosexual cisgendered men, and there is very little taught to students about the amazing contribution of women and queer physicists. This image can often be unmotivating for marginalised groups as they do not see themselves represented. Our focus on WQP enables the creation of spaces where shared experiences of discrimination, bias, and exclusion can be addressed more directly, without the need to "water down" the conversation for broader audiences.
The number of WQP in physics academic positions is also significantly lower compared to heterosexual cisgendered men, or other areas of science. This disparity can be seen within Queen Mary as well which is why we are here. We thus aim to unite a wide variety of people who encounter similar discrimination and a shared interest in physics together to encourage their presence in the field. We push WQP to reach their full potential in their pursuit of physics, and to have the representation needed.
