Resources

Articles that address multiple marginalized and minoritized identities.

• Intersectionality 101: Broad introduction to the concept of intersectionality.
• Privilege 101: Basic definition of privilege, including what is, and is not, considered privilege.
• Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering – NSF: Compilation of demographic statistics within science and engineering fields as collected by the National Science Foundation every year, broken down by degree status.
• VanguardSTEM: Vanguard: Conversations with Women of Color in STEM is a live, monthly web-series featuring a rotating panel of women of color in STEM discussing a wide variety of topics including their research interests, wisdom, advice, tips, tricks, and current events.
• Autistic Hoya: Blog of racial and disability justice advocate Lydia Brown (they/them/their). Their posts cover topics across many social justice issues, some of which are linked individually below.
• Chanda Prescod-Weinstein – Medium: Blog of theoretical cosmologist and social justice activist Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein. Posts often cover topics related to being a black woman in physics and astrophysics.
• Mahalo.ne.Trash: Blog of Harvard astrophysicist Dr. John Johnson. Posts largely cover racism and the history of systemic racism in the US, but many other topics are covered by both Dr. Johnson himself and occasional guest posters.
• Impact of Racial Macro- and Microaggressions in Black Women’s Lives: Summary of survey data taken from 187 black woman undergraduates. 63% of the participants reported experiencing some type of racial macroaggression at least once in a while during the past year, and 96% reported experiencing some type of racial microaggression at least a few times a year.
• Educational pathways of Black women physicists: Stories of experiencing and overcoming obstacles in life: Examines the lived experiences of six Black women physicists and addresses obstacles faced in their career paths and strategies used to overcome these obstacles.
• The Supreme Court Ruling That Led to 70,000 Forced Sterilizations: NPR Interview with the author of Imbeciles, a book about the history of the eugenics movement in the United States that specifically focuses on the players in the Supreme Court case Buck v. Bell in the buildup to said case, which ruled that forced sterilization of individuals (mostly women) deemed unfit to reproduce was constitutional. The Buck v. Bell ruling has still not been overturned.
• Racial Trauma is Real: The Impact of Police Shootings on African Americans: Defines racial trauma, and discusses signs and how to cope with it.
• Confronting Implicit Bias in Peer Review: Overviews strategies that journals and funding agencies are taking now to address disproportionately low success rates in peer review processes for people with marginalized identities.
• Enriching gender in physics education research: A binary past and a complex future: Looks at the intersection of gender and other marginalized identities in physics.

Articles about discrimination based on the social construct created to divide people nominally by geographic origin, but actually by perceived, generally physical, traits.

• White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack: Identifies the usually unseen effects of white privilege in the author’s life and what white people can do to fix that.
• If People Stopped Talking about Race It Wouldn’t Be a Problem Anymore: Essay discussing the myth of “colorblindness” and how it contributes to maintaining the (racist) status quo.
• Vanguard STEM: Vanguard: Conversations with Women of Color in STEM is a live, monthly web-series featuring a rotating panel of women of color in STEM discussing a wide variety of topics including their research interests, wisdom, advice, tips, tricks, and current events.
• Astronomy in Color: A blog committed to increasing diversity by recognizing, confronting and removing the barriers to racial equity and inclusion. They use an intersectional feminist approach combined with a framework of cultural materialism to understand the past and present repercussions of systemic oppression of marginalized groups on our ability to study the Universe.
• Decoded (video series): Youtube series of short videos that addresses issues of race and culture in funny and thought-provoking ways.
• You deplete me: The cognitive costs of colorblindness on ethnic minorities: Examines how colorblind or multicultural approaches to diversity prior to an inter-racial interaction affects ethnic minorities’ cognitive functioning.
• Impact of Racial Macro- and Microaggressions in Black Women’s Lives: Summary of survey data taken from 187 black woman undergraduates. 63% of the participants reported experiencing some type of racial macroaggression at least once in awhile during the past year, and 96% reported experiencing some type of racial microaggression at least a few times a year.
• Impact of Racial Microaggressions on Mental Health: Examines the relationship between racial microaggressions (subtle and unintentional forms of racial discrimination) and mental health.
• Harvard’s Eugenics Era: Article from Harvard Magazine acknowledging the role that Harvard played in the American eugenics movement of the early 20th century.
• Microaggressions and the Enduring Mental Health Disparity: Examines the interplay between the effect microaggressions have on Black Americans and the disparity in the health system.
• The ‘Benefits’ of Black Physics Students: NY Times editorial by Dr. Jedidah Isler written in response to statements made by Chief Justice Roberts during the Fisher v. University of Texas oral arguments.
• Educational pathways of Black women physicists: Stories of experiencing and overcoming obstacles in life: Examines the lived experiences of six Black women physicists and addresses obstacles faced in their career paths and strategies used to overcome these obstacles.
• Narratives of Black Adults About Microaggression Experiences and Related Health Stress: Six narratives about how microaggressions affect both physical and mental health.
• Helping College-Bound Native Americans Beat The Odds: NPR interview with Carmen Lopez, director of College Horizons,a non-profit group in New Mexico with workshops to help Native American students succeed in college. 
• Blackness is the Fulcrum: Explores why anti-black racism is particularly critical to upholding white supremacy in the United States.
• Doing Science While Black: An article by Edward Smith describing his personal experience as a black scientist.
• Women of Color in Academia and the Influence of Religious Culture on Self-Promotion: A Collaborative Autoethnograph: Discusses the experiences of religious women of color as they relate to the academic culture of self promotion from Christian and Muslim backgrounds.
• I Wish my White Colleagues Knew: An infographic from the 229th Winter AAS Town Hall Meeting in Grapevine, TX in 2017. Presents quotes from astronomers about their experiences in astronomy.

Articles about people with a binary (male or female) gender identity, largely traditional women’s issues.

• Factors that affect the physical science career interest of female students: A statistical approach to studying of five commonly accepted factors that might impact females’ physical science career interest.
• Impact of Racial Macro- and Microaggressions in Black Women’s Lives: Summary of survey data taken from 187 black woman undergraduates. 63% of the participants reported experiencing some type of racial macroaggression at least once in a while during the past year, and 96% reported experiencing some type of racial microaggression at least a few times a year.
• Stop Interrupting Me: Gender, Conversation Dominance, and Listener Bias: Overviews some of the sociology/psychology research on how women experience silencing and why women are less likely to speak up in group discussions than men.  Also suggests steps forward to improve the situation.
• Vanguard STEM: Vanguard: Conversations with Women of Color in STEM is a live, monthly web-series featuring a rotating panel of women of color in STEM discussing a wide variety of topics including their research interests, wisdom, advice, tips, tricks, and current events.
• The Supreme Court Ruling That Led To 70,000 Forced Sterilizations: NPR Interview with the author of Imbeciles, a book about the history of the eugenics movement in the United States that specifically focuses on the players in the Supreme Court case Buck v. Bell.
• Countering Gender Bias at Conferences: Describes efforts of several STEM professional societies to ensure that gender representation among conference speakers and chairs reflects that of the field at large.
• Women’s Persistence into Graduate Astronomy Programs: An article that interviews women who were successful in graduate astronomy programs about what helped them succeed in that environment.
• Women in Astronomy: A blog about the issues facing women in astronomy run by astronomers.
• Educational pathways of Black women physicists: Stories of experiencing and overcoming obstacles in life: Examines the lived experiences of six Black women physicists and addresses obstacles faced in their career paths and strategies used to overcome these obstacles.
• Mapping Meritocracy: Intersecting Gender, Poverty and Higher Educational Opportunity Structures: An article that maps meritocracy to “identify if the most marginalized communities are being included in the widening participation agenda.”
• Gender gaps and gendered action in a first-year physics laboratory: Looks at the gender gap in physics lab classes.
• Gender, experience, and self-efficacy in introductory physics: An article about effectiveness of teaching methods in introductory physics classes for female students.
• Beneath the numbers: A review of gender disparities in undergraduate education across science, technology, engineering, and math disciplines: A review of “studies on gender disparities across college STEM on measures that have been correlated with retention.”
• Student evaluations of physics teachers: On the stability and persistence of gender bias: A study about how “students with a strong physics identity show a larger gender bias in favor of male teachers than those with less of a physics identity.”
• Women in physics: A comparison to science, technology, engineering, and math education over four decades: A study on the mindset of women who pursue careers in physics.
• Women’s and men’s career choices in astronomy and astrophysics: A study that looks to identify factors that contribute to retention of both men and women.
• Fitting in or opting out: A review of key social-psychological factors influencing a sense of belonging for women in physics: A review paper about “how a sense of belonging relates to women’s interest, persistence, and achievement in physics.”
• Differences in gender performance on competitive physics selection tests: A study about how multiple choice questions can favor males over females.
• Gender gap or program gap? Students’ negotiations of study practice in a course in electromagnetism: Discusses the gender gap in grades versus the difference in programs.
• Enriching gender in physics education research: A binary past and a complex future: Looks at the intersection of gender and other marginalized identities in physics.
• Gender compatibility, math-gender stereotypes, and self-concepts in math and physics: A study about the “associations of gender compatibility (gender typicality and contentedness) and math-gender stereotypes with self-concepts in math and physics.”
• Social cognitive perspective of gender disparities in undergraduate physics: This article establishes “a framework for exploring causal pathways and targeted interventions for the low representation of women in post-secondary physics.”
• “If I had to do it, then I would”: Understanding early middle school students’ perceptions of physics and physics-related careers by gender: “Examines the perceptions of 6th grade middle school students regarding physics and physics-related careers.”
• How gender and reformed introductory physics impacts student success in advanced physics courses and continuation in the physics major: This article looks at how different teaching models can affect men and women as they advance through their physics degree.
• Gender discrimination in physics and astronomy: Graduate student experiences of sexism and gender microaggressions: An article that discusses sexism in physics and astronomy.
• Masculinities and experimental practices in physics: The view from three case studies: Studies the masculine connotations that come with physics to understand how that might affect women interested in pursuing physics.
• Science faculty’s subtle gender biases favor male student: An article about unconscious gender bias in academia.

Articles about people with a non-binary gender identity (e.g., agender, transgender, genderqueer).

• http://gender.wikia.com/wiki/Non-binary: Lists several common umbrella terms for the different types of gender non-binarity.  More resources are listed at the bottom of the page.
• LGBT Climate In Physics Report: Report published by the American Physical Society about the current state of the LGBT climate in the physics community that includes information gathered from surveys, interviews, and focus groups, as well as recommendations for the future.
• Trans Student Educational Resources: A youth-led organization dedicated to transforming the educational environment for trans and gender nonconforming students through advocacy and empowerment. They published a model policy for transgender students in four-year colleges and universities.
• A Political Primer to being Trans in the US of A: An article about being trans in the US.

Articles about people with marginalized sexualities (e.g. homosexuality, bisexuality, asexuality, pansexuality).

• LGBT Climate In Physics Report: Report published by the American Physical Society about the current state of the LGBT climate in the physics community that includes information gathered from surveys, interviews, and focus groups, as well as recommendations for the future.
• Navigating the Heteronormativity of Engineering: A study focusing on how LGB students navigate the heteronormative culture in their engineering college experience.
• Why is Science so Straight?: A NY Times article on the experiences of a gay man in an engineering department.

Articles that address the effects of income levels and poverty.

• Mapping Meritocracy: Intersecting Gender, Poverty and Higher Educational Opportunity Structures: An article that maps meritocracy to “identify if the most marginalized communities are being included in the widening participation agenda.”
• Is Science only for the rich?: Nature article about the barriers that come with poverty in different countries.

Articles about people who do not fit within the physical or mental conceptions of social “normality”.

• Lydia Brown’s Inclusive Astronomy presentation: Presentation from the 2015 Inclusive Astronomy conference.
• The Geek’s Guide to Disability: Good introduction to the basic ideas of disability, including models of disability (though there are more than just medical and social, those are addressed in Lydia Brown’s presentation from Inclusive Astronomy 2015) and terminology.
• Disability is not a disqualification: Article by astronomer Jesse Shanahan written for Science magazine about the barriers faced by people with disabilities in science degree programs, focusing specifically on their experiences in their astronomy master’s program.
• Everyday Ableism and How We Can Avoid It: A blog post about examples of everyday ableism and how to combat it and work to be more aware of it in everyday life.
• Access Astronomy: A blog run by the AAS Working Group on Accessibility and Disability (WGAD).
• Wage Subsidies and Hiring Chances for the Disabled: Some Causal Evidence: “[W]hen not disclosing wage subsidy entitlement, the disabled candidates had a 47 % lower chance to receive a positive reaction from the employer side than the nondisabled candidates. Second, when disclosing wage subsidy entitlement, the disabled candidates had a 49 % lower chance to receive a positive reaction.”
• On Being Sane in Insane Places: Eight researchers falsified mental illness to check themselves into psychiatric hospitals. None were discovered as frauds by the staff, and generally released with conditions said to be “in remission.” Hospitalization stays ranged from 7 to 52 days, with an average of 19 days.
• Harvard’s Eugenics Era: Article from Harvard Magazine acknowledging the role that Harvard played in the American eugenics movement of the early 20th century.
• The Supreme Court Ruling That Led To 70,000 Forced Sterilizations: NPR Interview with the author of Imbeciles, a book about the history of the eugenics movement in the United States that specifically focuses on the players in the Supreme Court case Buck v. Bell in the buildup to said case, which ruled that forced sterilization of individuals deemed unfit to reproduce was constitutional. The Buck v. Bell ruling has still not been overturned.
• (un)Accessible Astronomy: Ableism in Science: A blog article that shares someone else’s experience with physical disability in astronomy.
• Ableist Words and Terms to Avoid: An article from Austistic Hoya that lists phrases that are ableist and alternative choices that are more inclusive.
• Microaggressions Experienced by Persons With Mental Illnesses: An article that looks at the important implications that microaggressions have on mental health treatment.
• Microaggressions and the Enduring Mental Health Disparity: Examines the interplay between the effect microaggressions have on Black Americans and the disparity in the health system.

Articles about physical or psychological violence against a marginalized group or individuals within that group.

• Survey of Academic Field Experiences: Trainees Report Harassment and Assault: Results of an internet-based survey on the experiences of field scientists in regard to sexual harassment and assault. Accounts of sexual harassment and assault were prevalent, especially among women, while knowledge of and access to codes of conduct and harassment policies were rare.
• Gender discrimination in physics and astronomy: Graduate student experiences of sexism and gender microaggressions: Journal article on women’s experience in graduate school in astronomy and physics. Almost 80% of the women experienced sexism, including objectification, sexist language, assumptions of inferiority, denial of the reality of sexism, and other hostile behavior.
• 5 Common Behaviors Cis Men May Not Realize Are Abusive (And How to Stop Them): A good introduction to how men’s behaviors are shaped by the patriarchal cultural around them. This also discusses how we can work to change these behaviors to make a more equitable society.

Articles about discrimination that arises based on one’s body weight.

• Perceived Weight Discrimination and Obesity: An article about how weight discrimination can increase the risk of obesity. 
• Weight discrimination and bullying: “This review summarizes the nature and extent of weight stigmatization against overweight and obese individuals, as well as the resulting consequences that these experiences create for social, psychological, and physical health for children and adults who are targeted.”
• Weight Discrimination and Risk of Mortality: An article that examines the physical impact of weight discrimination.
• Associations Between Perceived Weight Discrimination and the Prevalence of Psychiatric Disorders in the General Population: An article that finds that regardless of weight, perceived weight discrimination can potentially be harmful to mental health.