I work in a University in the UK, and I support colleagues with their research . A female colleague came to see me to discuss a potential research project on breastfeeding. She was very committed to the research and the need for it, as it could result in an intervention that might improve breastfeeding success. However, she was leaving the university as she felt unhappy about being here, and the response in a departmental meeting to her suggestion was so sexist and misogynistic that she felt unable to continue working with such people. A male colleague, collating their ‘group work’ for future project, took the poster that she was writing on, took the pen, and took over writing. When she mentioned her project and began to discuss it, he spoke over her, shut her down, and said “right, we’ll just write Tits.” So he did. She was dumbfounded, and so shocked she failed to challenge this. She was used to being talked over in meetings, and to experience the typical experience in meetings, of raising a topic, being ignored, and then having that topic being taken seriously later in the meeting when it was proposed by a male colleague. In this meeting, eventually another female colleague objected to her topic being reduced to the word ‘Tits’ and it was then crossed out and the word ‘breasts’ written instead. Not breastfeeding, but breasts. She was less than happy. She told me she didn’t want it reported or acted on, that I was not to do anything about it. I agreed to support her with finding colleagues to do her research project and agreed not to report the issue. My only recourse is to put it here.
