Apodaca: Dads are making way for strong, smart women

Here I was all set to write a feel-good column about Father’s Day. Then someone had to go and say something so monumentally dumb that it got me all riled up, and now I just can’t help myself. Instead of sunshine and lollipops I will be addressing how a brilliant scientist can also be a total moron.

By the way, my new subject for the week also relates to the fathers that we very rightly honor today. But I’ll get back to that.

First, I’ll explain the story for those who missed it. Earlier this month, British biochemist Tim Hunt, a 2001 Nobel laureate for his co-discovery of protein molecules that control cell division, in a speech to scientists and journalists bemoaned the presence of “girls” in laboratories.

“Let me tell you about my trouble with girls,” he said. “Three things happen when they are in the lab: You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticize them, they cry.”

Though professing that he didn’t want to “stand in the way of women,” he also voiced support for gender-segregated labs.

As if those misogynistic comments weren’t enough, he then proceeded to dig an even deeper hole for himself when he attempted to sort-of apologize. Responding to the negative outcry over his original statements, he told the BBC that he was deeply sorry if he caused offense and that his remarks were intended to be “light-hearted” and “ironic.”

But then he went on to say that he “just meant to be honest” and repeated the same blather that provoked the outrage in the first place.

Shortly after, Hunt resigned from his posts at the University of London, the Royal Society and the European Research Council. That spawned a backlash by some scientists and politicians, among others, who argued that the punishment far outweighed the offense and that the overreaction was a product of a culture in which social media blows such lapses out of proportion.

Hunt has also complained about being hung out to dry for what he characterized as a momentary attack of stupidity.

It’s disheartening that some people still don’t seem to get it when it comes to sexism. Hunt’s cluelessness was revealed in his tone-deaf attempt at humor — if that’s really what it was — that calls to mind the type of “Come on honey, can’t you take a joke?” mentality that often accompanies offensive speech directed at women.

But I actually agree that Hunt’s career shouldn’t have been trashed because of his doltish comments. The public shaming should have been sufficient to enlighten him about the reasons so many women didn’t find his remarks “light-hearted.” Rather than a forced resignation, better that he be made to work in some meaningful capacity for the advancement of women in science.

For despite the great strides that have been made toward more equal treatment, women still face discrimination, discouragement and outright hostility day in and day out, particularly in traditionally male-dominated fields like science. I’m far less worried about Hunt’s destroyed career than I am about the legions of women who were never afforded the same opportunities that he has undoubtedly enjoyed.

This is where I get to the part about dads.

Despite lingering sexism, young women today are asserting themselves as never before. And that isn’t just because their mothers told them to shoot for the moon. So have their fathers.

Hunt is 72, and though he wasn’t raised in Victorian England he does represent an older generation of men clinging to the vestiges of a dying cultural construct that apparently doesn’t include smart, capable women who, yes, might sometimes cry but don’t feel the need to apologize for it. These old-timers also might have missed that there is a younger cohort of men who are raising their daughters — and sons, for that matter — for a world in which female power is increasingly regarded as a given.

Fathers today — the ones I know, anyway — are more inclined to understand that women aren’t being overly sensitive when they cry foul over the type of casual sexism that Hunt’s remarks reveal. Rather, modern young women are being taught to stand up for themselves and dictate the cultural conversation.

These women aren’t afraid to protest sexism in Silicon Valley, unflattering female stereotypes in the media and institutions that protect abusers. And when an esteemed scientist says something idiotic about women, they call him out on social media.

That’s not an overreaction; it’s progress.

Obviously, we’ve still got a long way to go. But on this Father’s Day, I’d like to give a shout out to those dads who teach their daughters to respect themselves and their sons to respect women.

These fathers are their kids’ first and most important male role models and their cues will lead the way for today’s girls to become fulfilled, empowered women of the future, women who could one day cure cancer, go to space, solve mathematical mysteries, and perhaps earn some Nobel prizes of their own.

They are raising daughters who are confident in their own value and unwilling to take a back seat to anyone.

If I’ve got that right, then we certainly do have something to celebrate. Happy Father’s Day.

PATRICE APODACA is a former Newport-Mesa public school parent and former Los Angeles Times staff writer. She lives in Newport Beach.