Nerdery

[liv]

Work is a bit politically frustrating at the moment, so have some silly links:

joannas found the personality quiz I've been waiting for all my life: What kind of protein are you? I am a transcription factor, which considering how much of my work has in fact been on TFs, is a particularly pleasing result. It means that I implement decisions by switching genes on and off, thereby delegating other proteins to go off and do useful things. Which sounds about right for someone who spends her non-research time teaching baby doctors and switching them on to go and cure people.

ETA 1: If you're getting a result like "analyst" or "nurturer" you need to scroll up to the top of the picture to see what kind protein you actually are. Yes, it's very bad UI design, I hadn't realized that it was making the descriptions more prominent than the actual result. Sorry about that!

There was an XKCD with biochemistry; there's no point linking to XKCD really cos just about everybody follows XKCD. And that strip isn't closely related to my work, but it's the chemistry a couple of levels under what I do, so it made me feel loved.

All the academics on my Twitter feed are linking to this silly Guardian article about why academics have a bad dress-sense: because we're not alienated from our labour, apparently. It's a charming thought, and there is a serious point buried in the article, which is that many female academics work just as hard on coming across exactly the right degree of nonchalant about appearance as they would on being impeccably presented if they worked in a sector that expected that. Me, I dress badly because I can't be bothered to spend time or money on clothes, and because I'm fat enough that there's no low-effort way to look good. But it's nice to pretend that it has something to do with Marx or feminism or something.

ETA 2: redbird absolutely nails the analysis that's missing from the article: "Even without choosing to dress that way for Marxist or feminist reasons, you can make those choices without a lot of stress in part because of your specific work and class situation." Yes, that. That's the conclusion the article should've come to, thank you redbird for fixing it so succinctly.

Comments

[nanila]

Are transcription factors known to attract other transcription factors? Because you've got at least three in your DW circle. :)

I dress OK (being average-sized and knowing a couple of brands I can count on to make clothes I like both help) but looking after my hair properly and wearing makeup to go with the decent clothes is a haphazard business at best...

[liv]

I can't think of a way to phrase this that doesn't sound like an innuendo, but yes, transcription factors very much attract other transcription factors. Which is to say, the whole way that the transcription program works is that TFs nearly all work in pairs and you can get lots of different combinations of pairs which have different effects. In fact, I'm starting to think that I should follow up the silly meme by making a post about why TFs are cool and interesting.

I'm impressed you can manage dressing ok, even if hair and makeup are haphazard. Even that level feels kind of beyond me, but I admit that's partly because I'm disinclined to putting effort in to learning the skill.

[nanila]

That would be an excellent follow-up post, if you have time!

When we met at WorldCon, I thought you had a distinctive style that suited you well (and an excellent pair of socks, if I remember correctly), so I was surprised to read here that you think you dress badly. But then I'm also an academic so perhaps I haven't got the most objective perspective...

[liv]

Thank you, that's a super compliment! (The excellent socks were because rysmiel asked me to wear stripey socks, but I suppose I can take credit for the fact that I had them in my wardrobe in the first place.)

I think there's a real problem with the definitions of dressing "well" or "badly". Because dressing well doesn't mean picking out clothes that you like and suit you, it means conforming to fashion and gender expectations and wearing clothes that visibly display the effort it takes to make them look good and therefore indicate status. There are lots of academics who dress well in that they feel comfortable and look good in their clothes, but they dress badly because they would look out of place in a City firm with a dress code.