Holly 🚀⚜️

There are a lot of private space companies who still use “manned” instead of “human” or “crewed”.

#nasa hasn’t used “manned” in our official nomenclature for ~ 20 years. It may sound pedantic, but women are still only 20% of engineering graduates - the same percentage as when I graduated.

Language and representation - think of job postings - matter.

#space #engineering #WomenInSTEM

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/manned-spaceflight-nasa/594835/

NASA, Apollo, and the Outdated Language of Spaceflight

“Manned” spaceflight doesn’t make sense anymore.

The Atlantic
Jan 8, 2023 at 4:19amMastodon for iOS
Show threadHolly 🚀⚜️Jan 8, 2023

“Research has found that this feeling of exclusion can have real, measurable effects. Studies by the National Institute of Mental Health in the 1970s, when NASA first began to recruit women astronauts, showed that women were significantly less likely to apply for jobs with titles that ended in man rather than person. A similar effect was found among men, who avoided professions with feminine-sounding names.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/manned-spaceflight-nasa/594835/

NASA, Apollo, and the Outdated Language of Spaceflight

“Manned” spaceflight doesn’t make sense anymore.

The Atlantic
Show threadHolly 🚀⚜️Jan 8, 2023

NASA Style Guide for reference:

“Gender-Specific Language (e.g., Manned Space Program vs. Human Space Program)

In general, all references to the space program should be non-gender-specific (e.g., human, piloted, unpiloted, robotic, as opposed to manned or unmanned).”

https://history.nasa.gov/styleguide.html

Style Guide

NASA History

Show threadTed_CvilleJan 8, 2023
@absolutspacegrl makes sense.
Show threadChuck Fry 🏳️‍🌈Jan 8, 2023
@absolutspacegrl I've been using "crewed" in conversations about projects I'm working on.
Show threadAlexandre Oliva (moved to @[email protected])Jan 9, 2023
but wouldn't it be so cool to make an exception for some "unmanned" missions, namely, whose entire crew is female? :-)
Show threadChristophJan 8, 2023
@absolutspacegrl So an all-women spaceflight would be unmanned if one sticks to the old terms..
Show threadJeffJan 8, 2023
@absolutspacegrl obviously corporate CEO want to inslave workers not pay taxes and have us pay everything
Show threadIan K TindaleJan 8, 2023
@absolutspacegrl ah, but how many at NASA have a masters degree?

[oops, I should own up that I have a masters degree]
Show threadIan RentonJan 8, 2023
@absolutspacegrl @anildash Meanwhile in my industry, one major player has decided “manned” and “crewed” mean *different things* and guaranteed someone will start a debate about it at *every* damn conference. NASA doing it right IMHO!
Show threadTed DriverJan 8, 2023
@absolutspacegrl This is just starting to change in the #UAV industry. UAV had always been Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. It's moving to Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle. Unfortunately, there's still trade mags with unmanned in the name! I hope this changes soon. https://insideunmannedsystems.com/
Show threadRachael Ava 💁🏻‍♀️Jan 8, 2023

@absolutspacegrl

"How dare they! When I was a wee lad, they called it a "manned" ship, but now they don't anymore, and I'm mad about it because I hate change!"

- Some old boomer probably

Show threadJ. Brian CoyleJan 8, 2023

@absolutspacegrl
Cool trick if you're using the Gboard keyboard on Android-

Add "crewed" to your personal dictionary with "manned" as the shortcut.

Now if you inadvertently type manned, crewed will be suggested for you to use. 👍

Show threadIanJan 8, 2023
@absolutspacegrl Blue Origin is good on this topic. Very rarely hear “manned”, most often is “crewed” and “human”.
Show threadHolly 🚀⚜️Jan 9, 2023

@ICYProp Yeah, we had some of your folks here last month and I actually came across some examples of what i was talking about and I asked one of the women “are y’all better with this?”

She said “Yes thank God” 😆😆😆

Show threadThe Sevenoaks ScientistJan 9, 2023
@absolutspacegrl Take a look at the dictionary definition of "man" - a member of the human race of either sex and any age