Pop culture portrayals of women in STEM are no laughing matter

For many young women watching The X-Files in the 1990s, Dr Dana Scully was an icon.

The character, played by Gillian Anderson, was one of the first prime time portrayals of a woman working in STEM. Her confidence and competence inspired so many women and girls to pursue STEM careers that there is even a name for the phenomenon – the ‘Scully Effect’.

Media and pop culture play a powerful role in shaping our ideas of what scientists look like —and, just as importantly, who belongs in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

When TV and film portrayals are the only exposure many people have to the world of science, it’s worth asking some key questions. What stories are being told about women in STEM? Are they accurate? Are they inspiring? Are they saying something about who gets to be a ‘real’ scientist?

While portrayals of fictional women scientists can be stereotypical, they also have the power to reflect and challenge assumptions.

The character of Shuri in the Marvel’s Black Panther showed that a young woman of colour can be a confident, smart and creative engineer and play a critical role in a technological revolution.

Fictional portrayals don’t just reflect reality, they shape it. But things get complicated when humour is added to the mix.

Tired TV tropes

In recent years, popular TV shows have been guilty of reducing women scientists to comedic foils or romantic interests, rather than fully realised professionals.

Working with Bridget Gaul and Dr Anna-Sophie Jürgens, I analysed The big bang theory, Never have I ever and Zoey’s extraordinary playlist to look at how TV comedies communicate complex ideas about gender and science.

We found that much of the humour surrounding women scientists relied on ironic sexism, laugh tracks, and the tired trope that women must choose between career and personal life.

In The big bang theory, even when Amy (Mayim Bialik) and Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) are more competent and qualified than their male colleagues, the men are still lauded as heroes, while the women are left to clean up their messes.

In Never have I ever, Kamala (Richa Moorjani) is portrayed as a promising scientist, but her storyline is frequently overtaken by family and romance.

In Zoey’s extraordinary playlist, Zoey (Jane Levy) struggles with colleagues who frequently question, downplay and disrespect her managerial decisions by comparing them to feminine pop culture touchstones such as pseudoscientific wellness business Goop, and teenage book Are you there God, It’s me, Margaret.

But humour can also be used to highlight gender bias and shape more complex and thought-provoking representations of the reality of women in STEM.

In our analysis of TV comedies, we also found that humour was used to soften and humanise the stories of women scientist characters as they struggled to contemplate and begin parenthood, balance the demands of their non-work relationships with their careers, and express their identity (including their femininity) through fashion and other means.

Even when these characters were complex, humour often undermined their struggles rather than validating them.

Struggles and straight-up silliness

While there are some positive portrayals of women in STEM on the big screen, their depiction comes with caveats.

A study on the 2016 film Hidden figures found that female preservice teachers who watched the movie believed women could become scientists, mathematicians, and engineers. The catch was that they also believed that female scientists would struggle to be accepted in the STEM workforce.

Humorous films tend to portray women scientists as neurotic, silly and impossibly clumsy. Instead of undertaking serious scientific work, these characters often engage in nonsense or hocus-pocus.

Think of Tilda Swinton as bio-geneticist Rosetta Stone, copying herself into self-replicating automatons in Teknolust (2010). And who could forget Dr Pamela Isley in Batman & Robin (1997)?  A kind-hearted botanist, Dr Isley (Uma Thurman) transforms into Poison Ivy after she escapes a murder attempt. She wields her poisonous lips and powers of seduction in her crusade against the city of Gotham.

Even animated scientist Princess Bubblegum of Adventure time seems to perform more magic than science. Hardly able to hold a test tube, these girls in the lab cannot be taken seriously. 

Rewriting the script

Comedy has the power to challenge gender norms —but only when it’s used with intention. Feminist humour centres women’s experiences and pokes fun at systemic oppression, not just men. But examples of this in today’s TV landscape are few and far between.

In our book, we found that much of the humour surrounding women scientists relied on ironic sexism, laugh tracks, and the tired trope that women must choose between career and personal life. Underpinning all this was a subtle messaging that women would have a better life if they didn’t pursue STEM.

As political attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion in publicly funded initiatives like science gain traction in the US and now Australia, realistic, empowering and positive portrayals of women in STEM are more crucial than ever. 

Representation doesn’t just entertain; it shapes aspirations, workplace cultures, and public perceptions of who deserves to be in STEM.

Learn more about the scientists and science in pop culture on the ANU Popsicule website.

Women scientists in American television comedy by Karina Judd, Bridget Gaul and Anna-Sophie Jürgens is available here: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-81525-6#author-0-1