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Controversy Over Scientist's Shirt Mars Celebration Of Comet Landing

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Some women became targets of nasty online comments just this week because they dared to complain about a shirt - a shirt worn by a scientist with the Rosetta Mission, which just landed a small probe on a comet. NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce has more on a controversy that's been called the shirt storm.

NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE, BYLINE: Matt Taylor is the project scientist for the European Space Agency. He's a young guy with tattoos and a beard who looks like he could be in a heavy metal band. You can go online and watch a video of a tattoo artist with a mohawk inking an image of the Rosetta spacecraft onto Taylor's thigh. Before the lander made its triumphant touchdown on the comet, Taylor spoke about the Rosetta mission on the space agency's live webcast.

(SOUNDBITE OF WEBCAST)

MATT TAYLOR: I've said it before - Rosetta is the sexiest mission that's ever been. She is sexy, but I never said she was easy.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: As he said this, Katie Mack was watching. She's a theoretical astrophysicist at the University of Melbourne in Australia. She noticed that Taylor was wearing a brightly colored shirt.

KATIE MACK: And I looked closer and noticed that it was covered in, like, women in lingerie - like, cartoon women in lingerie. And that was the design of the shirt.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: The buxom babes were provocatively posed and shooting laser guns. They looked like illustrations from sci-fi pulp fiction. Mack thought that Taylor's comments and his shirt were just not appropriate for a worldwide broadcast of a major science event.

MACK: To me, it seemed like it was really unwelcoming to women in science to have the lead scientist be wearing women as decoration.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: She says, OK, it's just a shirt. But little things like this add up to a real problem for science.

MACK: It's not a big deal, but it's part of a big deal.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: She made some Twitter comments, as did many others. Then came the backlash - people telling the women to kill themselves or making vile sexual remarks.

MACK: You know, just tweeting profanities at me - just earlier tonight I got an e-mail with the subject heading, you make me sick.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Today, on a webcast about the comet mission, Matt Taylor wore a plain black sweatshirt. He looked stricken. When a moderator asked him about the data coming back from the comet probe, he didn't answer right away. Instead, he talked about the shirt.

(SOUNDBITE OF WEBCAST)

TAYLOR: I - the shirt I wore this week - I made a big mistake, and I offended many people. And I am very sorry about this.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: As he struggled to compose himself, a colleague patted his shoulder. After a moment, Taylor began to talk about the science. Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Nell Greenfieldboyce is a NPR science correspondent.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.