What WERE they Thinking?

A long time ago — in the dark ages — amateur astronomy was pretty much thought to be a male domain. The telescope magazines used to show pictures of telescopes with pretty girls standing next to them. Sort of like the geek’s equivalent to the hot car with the half-nekkid babe draped over the hood — sort of like this one I found over at Scope Reviews.com.

Pretty stupid when you think about it — that attitude that some dish was going to go out stargazing lugging that light bucket around all dolled up in heels and a dress. So, things have changed today, right? Well, sure. There’s change and then there’s change. We see a lot more women at star parties (and a lot more females in Big Astronomy). A lot of them have some pretty cool scopes. The astronomy ads are likely to show just the scopes these days, without the need for eye candy. So that’s all cool.

But there are still some strange attitudes out there about women doing astronomy. I like to read sci.astro.amateur on Usenet — and most of the folks on there are as nice and welcoming as you’d ever imagine. But occasionally there’ll be some discussion about how to get “the wife” to allow more eyepiece purchases, or “what do I do if my wife isn’t interested in astronomy?” which then lead to some strange, sexist commentary in the replies. One memorable exchange a few years ago had a guy wondering out loud in a message about building his wife a telescope and painting it pink so she’d get more interested in the hobby. Reminded me of those silly pink-handled tool sets that come out every year in time for Mother’s Day. These folks never figure out that making something pink doesn’t make it any more useful for a woman than it would be for a man.

Sometimes when I read these message I think of a bunch of little boys in a treehouse somewhere, arguing about how to keep the “gurls” out.

So, what do they think women astronomers worry about when we’re out stargazing? Getting our eye shadow on the viewfinder? Color-coordinating our shoes with our battery-operated socks? Whether or not a 6″ Dob or a 8″ newtonian will make her hips look too big?

Tell you a secret: we’re astronomers. We like to look at things through the scope when the spirit moves us — just like the guys do. We buy eyepieces. We polish our mirrors. We swear at the damned tracking motor when it doesn’t track right. We bitch about the seeing and whine about the mosquitos and no-see-ums just like the big boys. And when everything comes together on a perfect evening, we’re moved by the beauty we see in the skies.

So, let’s hear it for skygazers and let’s forget about whether they’re XX or XY. Besides, lugging around a huge telescope is bound to make your ass feel tired before it feels big…