I want to live in a world where I can be a physicist without also being asked to speak on...racism.

[hunter]

6. I switched my major from engineering to biology for similar reasons...

... as you said, "just hearing them talk."

Women who stuck with engineering in the 'seventies were tough. My girlfriend at the time was tough and had to be, even with the advantage of white skin and money.

My wife has horrible stories, even in a profession that was slowly accepting women beyond the few specialties they were considered most suited to.

It was awful enough that my grandfather, who had been an engineer for the Apollo Project, would call her "A Mexican Girl." Men in his family simply didn't marry Mexican Girls.

It took him a while to get over it, probably as he began to realize she was smarter than he was and better at math as well.

Nevertheless, my wife has in her career banged her head against the glass ceiling, and been expected to represent others who share her story.

Boring white guys don't have those problems, and most of them can't even see how it's a problem.