The "Sex Factor" for Women in Science | StarTalk

Welcome back to Star Talk! We are featuring my interview with actress Mayim Bialik. She is the neuroscientist on the hit TV series The Big Bang Theory, and I asked her about the portrayal of women scientists. Is it good? Is it bad? Is it working? Let's check it out.

But we did an episode where Bernadette poses for a sexy scientist photo shoot and Amy has a very big problem. I remember that episode and it's something that I'm asked about a lot because I do advocacy for STEM and young women. I'm often asked, you know, what do you think about the, you know, the white starch shirt open with the black bra and the glasses down and the red lips?

And, you know, to me, I don't knock women or scientists who want to do that. For me, that's not the way that I choose to portray women in science. You know, I don't think we need to take our clothes off, you know, to show that women in science can also take their clothes off.

But I think, you know, part of the advocacy that I try and do is to put a fresh face, you know, a positive face and a female face on these subjects. I think that a lot of what's missing from trying to engage young women is not just the sex factor or the attractiveness factor, which I do agree might be more important in this day and age than it might have been 10 or 20 or 50 years ago.

But I think also that a lot of women don't know the kinds of careers that are available to them. People picture themselves, or at least I did: I don't want to be alone in a lab for the rest of my life. I don't want to be in a nerdy lab coat and ugly glasses for the rest of my life.

And that's what, when I was in elementary school and junior high, that's what I thought it was. But when I got older and I understood, oh, marine biology is actually being a scientist, working in the field, working with animals, working in the environment. You know, all those things are also science.

If you like engineering and you want to do coding, knock yourself out! But there are many careers that involve a lot of creativity and a lot of being out and about. And that's, I think, what we need to try and communicate to girls as young as possible.