Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
Another case showing that conservatives aren't the only ones who denounce and suppress science that challenges ideological orthodoxies.
Academic Activists Send a Published Paper Down the Memory Hole
tldr:
- Researchers produce study on the possible mathematical underpinnings of the Greater Male Variability Hypothesis.
- Experts in the field praise the study. Editor of journal, though aware of the controversial nature of studies into intelligence and gender, offers to publish the article to encourage a robust debate on the subject.
- When interest groups in academia find out, they denounce the paper. One of the authors is encouraged to remove his name from it.
- Under pressure from diversity professionals, the National Science Foundation requests that the authors remove mention of their funding for the research.
- The editor withdraws her support and rejects the article, citing the possibility that it could be used as political ammunition by the right.*
- One of the researchers buckles under the attack and withdraws his name from the paper.
- Another journal offers to publish revised article, after assessment by referee. Conditions met, publication is confirmed.
- This journal is attacked in turn, and half the board threaten to resign if the paper is published. It's pulled from the journal.
* This is the same argument that religious authorities use to suppress the teaching of evolution - its scientific merits matter less than the threat it poses to social values. |
What the thinking here? I assume that this would support the idea that men are specialized for various roles within society due to a greater degree of variation in size, strength, intelligence, etc...
This would then support the theory that women are less able to fill those specialized roles? I suppose if the theory were true, you'd expect a male to be more likely to have a very high end intelligence, with females more likely to fall around the average. This could be equally damaging for men who would be perceived as below average intelligence and pigeon holed there.
Quite frankly, from my experience I've found an equal proportion of both smart and dumb people of both genders. It's also very difficult to make any kind of test that is an accurate measure of intelligence, which has no single definition and is heavily influenced by bias.