A statement like “inclusion is important, and offers new perspectives” is something that has always seemed rather intuitive to me. It seems so obvious to me that diversity is important, because why wouldn’t I want to hear ideas different to my own and learn from others? It’s also individually important to me, as a queer person and a woman (or close enough — I was assigned female at birth), to have my voice heard wherever decisions are being made. However, this was always something that I’ve found difficult to argue to those who don’t find this intuitive.
Then I learned about standpoint theory.
Standpoint theory is the idea that knowledge depends on our situation and interpretation, and that marginalized groups are situated in a way that allows them access to knowledge the dominant perspective doesn’t have. By not advocating for inclusivity in science communication, we are missing valuable insight that we couldn’t get otherwise. Halpern connects this to science communication, stating that “By first situating ourselves, and then those with whom we’d like to communicate, we are better able to understand the strengths of our own scientific knowledge, and the place from which it comes.” We can also understand the viewpoint of others, and in seeing how scientific communication falls short, we can improve.
Marginalized groups have good reason to be skeptical of the scientific and medical communities. In the Tuskegee Experiment, treatment was denied to black men in Alabama with syphilis in order to see how the disease progressed. Henrietta Lacks’ cells were stolen and are still used in labs throughout the United States today as HeLa cells. The AIDs epidemic ravaged the queer community for years while they were denied treatment for not being heterosexual. And these are just a few examples of the way minority groups like the queer and black community have had their trust and bodies violated by science and medicine. But perhaps we can regain that trust.
Hashtag campaigns like #ThisIsWhatAScientistLooksLike challenge public stereotypes and bring a sense of community among marginalized scientists. The “Scientist Selfies” study found that accounts that posted selfies tend to be perceived as warmer and more trustworthy than accounts that didn’t. Scientists that posted selfies were not seen as less competent, even those posted by women, despite stereotypes often associated with them. In 2013, a Ph.D. candidate biologist Stephani Page created a movement with #BLACKandSTEM. Now with a Ph.D., biochemist Dr. Page recently launched The Black CIDC, “a collaboration of Black STEM professionals working together to curate/disseminate credible information on COVID-19 vaccines to Black communities.”
Work like this is vital to science communication. Standpoint theory wants us to look at things from others’ point of view, but there are some things that I as a white person am never going to fully understand, because I don’t have to deal with it every day. If marginalized communities had representation in science and science communication, people who understood them and their perspective, skepticism and mistrust may be reduced. This is why “strong objectivity,” an aspect of standpoint theory, is important, as it includes a person’s biases when they try to defend their knowledge claim. Rasekoala and Orthia further this point in saying that “for science communication to become genuinely inclusive, we need to start at the roots, creating the right spaces and values for reflective practice and institutional changes in staffing, ethical policies, leadership, and more.”
