The Language of Astronomy Is Needlessly Violent and Inaccurate
This summer, a team of students and I were enjoying breathtaking views of the night sky while we collected data using telescopes at the McDonald Observatory in West Texas. One night, when we were outside on a telescope catwalk between the screams of a mountain lion, one of my students amazed me with her interpretation of the fate of Andromeda, the galaxy closest to our Milky Way. In describing how these two galaxies will merge a few billion years from now, she said they will experience “a giant galactic hug.”
The kindness, but also the accuracy, of the language my student used was in sharp contrast to the standard description we use in astronomy to explain the final destiny of Andromeda and the Milky Way: “a collision.” But as astronomers have predicted, when Andromeda and the Milky Way finally meet, their stars will entwine and create a larger cosmic structure, a process that is more creating than destroying, which is what we envision when we use the term collision. A galactic hug is scientifically truthful, and it's led me to believe that astronomers should reconsider the language we use.
For instance, in galaxy evolution we invoke imagery strikingly similar to what you would expect if you were eavesdropping on Hannibal Lecter: words like cannibalism, harassment, starvation, strangulation, stripping or suffocation. There is a rather long list of foul analogies that have entered, and are now entrenched, in the lexicon of professional astronomy. We have grown accustomed to this violent language and as a community, we seldom question or reflect on its use.
Strangulation is a particularly cringeworthy term in astronomy, referring to the decline of the number of stars born in some types of galaxies. This is a vicious crime where most often the victim is a woman; the perpetrator, a man. Yet, we use this word mindlessly to describe a slow astronomical process that takes millions of years. Under certain conditions, some galaxies use up or lose the gas that is the primordial ingredient to form stars. When that happens, galaxies make new stars at a lower rate. But these galaxies do not die or suffer great harm. They will continue to shine and will live their natural evolution.
This is but one of many examples of violent language in our field that actually describes something gradual, slow and perhaps even gentle. Of course, sometimes powerful language is an accurate reflection of what's happening—a supernova “explosion,” for instance, describes when a star detonates in a mighty blast at the end of its life, enriching the universe with brand new materials. Terms like this need no revision. But in many cases, they're needlessly vicious and promote inaccurate connotations.
To shift toward more welcoming and truthful language in astronomy, scientific journals can push to change the currently accepted language. The referee, or the scientific editor, can ask the authors to consider more appropriate descriptions of the physical processes involved. Referees, editors and editorial boards can step up to enforce scientific accuracy and stop the use of violent, misogynistic language that is now pervasive. This is a call for scientific precision. The use of hypercharged words in our field ignores the fact that this violent imagery can trigger distress in colleagues who might have been victims of violence.
As authors, we are responsible for the language that we use when we write our papers. We can make a conscious choice and use more factual language. We often ask colleagues to proofread our papers and to look for typos or glaring mistakes. We can engage a reader with different sensitivities, a different gender or ethnicity, and ask for feedback on the terms that we use. This type of conscious engagement with colleagues with different backgrounds can only be beneficial.
As astronomers, we must strive to create a more inclusive and diverse community that reflects the composition of our society. Valuable efforts to provide opportunities for women and minorities to succeed in astronomy have been created. However, by many metrics, the progress made towards gender equality and true diversity has been painfully slow.
We must listen to the new generation of astronomers. My student showed me that while some astronomical processes can be intense, the universe revealed through astronomy provides us with the most fascinating sights known to humankind. Like many other young scientists, she thinks that when we explain astronomical phenomena with wording and phrases that share our excitement and appreciation, it also encourages others to join in and wonder what else we can discover together.
The universe is beautiful, elegant and ever-changing. Astronomy would be wise to follow its lead.
This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author or authors are not necessarily those of Scientific American.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
We're never getting to Mars are we
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Contrepoint: strangulation is hot, just like stars. NTA (never touching astronomers)
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
The universe is tiny.... and hawt!
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
I hate it when men galaxy strangulate women. That's pretty mean, tbh.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
How do we make this term
A. Sexual
B. Referring to BIPOCs
?
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Galaxies are (mostly) black, you do the math
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
which galaxy is chauvin and which is greg floyd?
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
you just reminded me of this story
https://www.foxnews.com/story/texas-county-official-sees-race-in-term-black-hole
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
naw lookee here buhhhh! that them star don think his buck done shin' on bout ne're fo-eva, but dis her dahhhk stanky hole fin bout break tha ol' buck clean inta nothin'!
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
This guy is a random academia cute twink who watches the sky through his telescope. Objectively he's got almost nothing in common with the people interested in space travel.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
How is it misogyny when I don't want to choke girls but they all want me to choke them?
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Did they consent to not being choked?
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I didn't consent to choking them but I choked them anyway
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
Astronomy foids love it when you use the naughty terms when no one is around.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
We're never getting flying cars either.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
R-slurs cant operate bicycles
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Be honest, you wouldn't want your countrymen piloting those things.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Go buy a helicopter
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Leave our Mars bros alone. They don't deserve to be exposed to this earthtardation
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
I hope not.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
We dont deserve the cosmos
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Let's just get rid of all negative words and use euphemisms for all things so nobody knows what is what like a bong when they need to express disappointment or correct someone.
Krayon sexually assaulted his sister.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I'm so happy in the Congoarsey 8mo ago #5690660 spent 0 currency on pingsIn the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed, will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten. Already, in the Eleventh Edition, we're not far from that point. But the process will still be continuing long after you and I are dead. Every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I'm so happy in the CongoX 8mo ago #5690707 spent 0 currency on pingsThis gif is aladeen
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
that one word?
Needful
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Wait until they get into the strong regime of QM, they will need critical particle theory to dismantle the coupling.
Pauli was right, frick inclusivity.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Of course he was you fricking Marone
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
You know what really needs a name change?
The "Black Book of Quantum Chromodynamics"
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Two femions can't occupy the same space and be stable.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Do the right thing, collide with a ferminazi today
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
r*pe = that stranger danger man put his doink in my ouch-hole!
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I had surprise s*x!
Krayon sexually assaulted his sister.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
normalize struggle snuggles
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
allow list
leader(master)
follower(slave)
closed box(black box)
risk zone(red zone)
git annotate(git blame)
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I unironically haven't heard of the last two. lol
Krayon sexually assaulted his sister.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
The second to last one was from an IBM leak, iirc. The last was me and was based off the places I worked where the female diversity hire managers tried to implement a "blameless culture" which was a disaster.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Who ended up getting blamed???
It would be easier and better to hire token white males in every work place to take the fall for everyone.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
blame just means who's responsible for the bug/issue. It doesn't mean theyre incompetent and it can be multiple people. The intention is to take ownership and identify an issue so it can be fixed. The problem is men don't take it personally but women do.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
My motor's riskline is at 6500 RPM
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
i want to strangle the author
academia is a joke
what has this got to do with the silly topic at hand even lmao
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Female and BIPOC potential astronomers are being driven away by having to use such words as 'collide', 'stripping' and 'black hole'. Such violent words are the only reason astronomy isn't the perfect diverse utopia. What we need is a Disney movie to anthropomorphise space rocks so women and other minorities can relate enough to the field to no longer be threatened by it.
Also, just ignore that 'true' diversity and gender equality is presented as given as the real goal of astronomy and something that is happening too slowly. Accept the field is inherently bigoted and in need of a good diversification, and that changing all the words is going to help that problem rather than make everything worse for no benefit.
Shorter version is that the guy's a minority cute twink trying the DEI grift.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Black hole? Too violent. Change it to something friendly like BIPOC welcoming committee
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Semi-Responsible Stellar Object
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
It would be fun to write articles like this just to introduce new chud terms into the vernacular... Like play it completely straight but throw in stuff like "Particularly problematic is the term "black hole" as it is sometimes used as a disparaging term for an african american women" every once in a while
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Mayophoid and trans lives matter.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
No, we need to push back! Hard.
"Black hole" will now be known as "Total BIPOC Death".
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Black hole? More like buck breaking engine recipient recipient
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Based and John Wiley Price-pilled
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
found the incel
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Hey Dad, come look out of the telescope! I think I see a new BIPOC pit forming!
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Great. Now I just think its a euphemism for blacks consuming substantial amounts of taxpayer money. Now I'm racist and it's your fault.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
SPACE BUSSY GAPE
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Why do these goddarn freaks try to ruin everything I enjoy with their r-slur shit????
LET ME ENJOY THINGS
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Earlier they were complaining that too many celestial bodies were named by white people. One even complained the generic naming scheme was too white despite it being numbers.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Naming this pulsar PSR J0737-3039 is a little too on-the-nose and worse, white sounding. Let's call it something kooky that doesn't mean anything and will make it impossible to locate
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Do you say the space acknowledgement every meeting when in astronomy at uni or at NASA? Hmm?
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Well, it just so happens my uncle works at NASA and he says I don't hafta!
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Sorry, sweaty! Some of us just got it like that
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
Ah...sorry, looks like I externalized my internal monologue for a moment. Dude bussy lmao.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Not despite, because
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Because no one will tell them they're wrong except evil chuds that go ignored
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
This whole article was written because he got a boner for a student he'll never get to frick .
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
ngmi
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
back in the day women in science had to be based, like Curie slowly poisoning herself through radiation
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Nothing makes me seethe like the downfall of Scientific American. It used to be awesome, now it's full of woke dogshit. Can you imagine spending the time to write up something like that and not being laughed out of the room by your peers?
I switched to Quanta, it's much better. Wish they had print editions.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
They had an r-slured cover story a while ago about how prehistoric women were better hunters than men because I SAID SO YOU BIGOT
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
When did they stop being r-slurred
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
This is what happens when people aren't able to contribute to the subject itself but still want to be part of it.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Please lord, get me off of planet gay
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
I love how they affix r-slurred gender ideology to the entire concept of strangulation
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
On your knees, bucko. Someone shoulda broke you a long, long time ago. I have nary met a buck I can't chuck with this here long and mighty dingus! I tell ye back in aught-4 I met a real mean one. He had big, air stealing nostrils, monstrous, boot lips, muscles that rippled under his cobalt skin so it'd look like a nest'a snakes as he'd be twisting here and yonder. T'was an older gentleman, the owner d'ye ken?, that had hired me to break this particular buck. Was some half-dozen breakers what had tried and failed! I tracked this this big-assed baboon, by fallerin' the sounds of his impressive proud buttocks, clapping as he capered to and fro on yon gentleman's land. There he be, proud as a darn peapeepee, black slave's body framed by yon settin' sun, just begging to be broke. I approached from the east, formerly westerly way. Took him unawares as he were sat alone out front a shack, mending a loincloth or some such. Knocking him to his glistening buttocks produced a thund'rus CLAP, and I mounted from the front. I tell ye boy, but that buck began to FIGHT! This unbroken, proud negro was ornery I tell ye, but I ain't ne'er been denied, d'ya ken it? I had my peepee out in an instant as he scrambled onto his black belly and began ta' wrigglin' this way and that. And bucko did he began to wail! As loud as prairie lightning he were. This buck could tell the breaking was coming, and I tell ye, he did BUCK. This obstinate cur could turn on a dime and give ye some change! I tell ye as the winds were my witness, he were a right sunfish, struggling and flopping as he did, gyrating his unbroken black anus and dodging my breaker man's meat. But he broke, and I finished the job. D'ye ken? That buck broke. Say sorry, boy. But they all break. By the man Jesus and his snowy white pappy, now say hallelujah, boy, you'll break, too!
Snapshots:
ghostarchive.org
archive.org
archive.ph (click to archive)
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
I'm just glad that in EM we have r-slurred potentials and it's not a popular enough subject to get DEI-ified.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context