Female scientists have taken to Twitter in sarcastic response to a scientist’s sexist speech.
Sir Tim Hunt resigned from his post at University College London (UCL) after telling a conference that women in science labs fall in love with their male counterparts and then cry when you criticise them.
Hunt, speaking at the World Conference of Science Journalists in South Korea, said he was in favour of single-sex labs.
The controversy prompted a feminist online magazine to call for Twitter users to post picture of themselves in a lab with the hashtag #distractinglysexy
Hunt, 72, a Nobel laureate, told the BBC he was sorry his comments had caused offence. But he appeared to stick by them, adding relationships in the lab were “disruptive to science” and that “emotional entanglements made life very difficult”.
UCL said in a statement: “UCL can confirm that Sir Tim Hunt FRS has today resigned from his position as Honorary Professor with the UCL Faculty of Life Sciences, following comments he made about women in science at the World Conference of Science Journalists on 9 June.
“UCL was the first university in England to admit women students on equal terms to men, and the university believes that this outcome is compatible with our commitment to gender equality.”
The best of Twitter – #distractinglysexy
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