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Feminist Demands That Our Messages to Space Aliens Be Made More Social-Justice-y

by

I am not making this up.

Dr. Jill Stuart, considered an expert on the “politics” of space, expressed particular concern about a plaque on the 1972 Pioneer 10 spacecraft that featured a naked man and woman. “The plaque shows a man raising his hand in a very manly fashion while a woman stands behind him, appearing all meek and submissive,” Stuart said …. “We really need to rethink that with any messages we are sending out now. Attitudes have changed so much in just 40 years,” she continued.

Even worse: The man and the woman were both white. (Ewwwww!)

“I would be uncomfortable with sending out any images or messages that include Western-dominated material,” Stuart said.
…
[W]e have no idea what kind of terrible impact having to see a naked, white heterosexual couple might have on the aliens’ culture — and I’d hate to think that we humans could play any role in turning them into misogynist white supremacists.

Comments

  2. This woman is full of SHIT!! Seriously!

    Here’s the image she’s talking about. Go take a look. I’ll wait.

    Now, is the man raising his hand in “a manly fashion”? Exactly how ELSE do you raise your hand, than the way it is show, pray tell?

    Is the woman standing BEHIND him? NO!! Is she all weak and submissive? NO!!

    Can you even tell from a LINE DRAWING what race they are?? NO!!

    I think, to paraphrase her, she needs to rethink the message she is issuing, rather than spewing nonsense that makes her look like a complete IDIOT!!

  4. To prove that the two figures or not white, look at the two and think “Korean”.

    Oh, their hair isn’t jet black? This is a line drawing. You can’t show hair color.

    Now, try it again, and think “Asian Indian”.

    Still think these figures are of whites?

  5. @ Craig Smith: Wow, I didn’t know that a simple act like waving was a patriarchal gesture. Perhaps if the hand was bent 45 degrees forward, it would be acceptable? Or would it be homophobic then?

  6. How eccentric people like this ever managed to get educated enough to refer to themselves as ”doctor” is beyond me. And worse eccentricity is now taken seriously. Even if you go ahead and indulge her that perhaps it would have made more sense to place the figures side-by-side, the fact remains that she is focusing on something trivial when mankind (sorry, womynkind) is facing humongous problems that make arguing over symbols put in place some 30-odd years ago look facile. I really doubt that Martians and Venusians are going to look at those symbols, shake their heads in disbelief and zoom back home in horror at Earth’s sexist signs.

  8. @1: totally agree. Spacecraft are not built and launched in third-world countries…. So, it is far from wrong to give those who have achieved, credit for their success.

    The image was designed by a woman, then-wife of Dr Carl Sagan, himself a liberal shill, female-affirmer and male-marginalizer [this type of self-loathing, especially self-gender-loathing, is and remains standard liberal fare].

  9. [W]e have no idea what kind of terrible impact having to see a naked, white heterosexual couple might have on the aliens’ culture — and I’d hate to think that we humans could play any role in turning them into misogynist white supremacists.

    This micro-aggressive word vomiting could go in so many directions that it stands editing for clarity.

    We have no idea.

    There. Fixed it. Now, Dr. Jill Stuart, have some cookies and milk, go hop in bed and leave the nightlight on.

  11. Here’s the thing: They ARE standing side by side. The heights are not indicative of one standing behind the other. These are specifically designed to show the average height of each (proven by the fact that there is an image of Pioneer 10 right behind them). It is nature, not society, that decided that women should be slightly shorter than men.

  12. How eccentric people like this ever managed to get educated enough to refer to themselves as ”doctor” is beyond me.

    In my experience (albeit somewhat limited compared to many others), most of those who are able to attain the education level where they are entitled to use the honorific “doctor” (in the non-medical context) are often universally eccentric. In fact, I think being eccentric helps them get awarded the appropriate degree without opposition. Much like bishops who consecrate new bishops, the eccentrics with terminal degrees end up only teaching and creating new eccentrics with terminal degrees.