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Monday Mini: Women and Antarctica · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I'm welcome to stuff
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: one never told you a productive of iHeartRadio. And today,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: before we get into this content, warning for physical and
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  Speaker 1: sexual assault and harassment bullying. It's not gonna be too detailed,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: but it is really upsetting. I will say that today
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: is May sixteenth, twenty twenty four. I'm saying that because
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: it's kind of an ongoing story. And Okay, so I've
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: talked about before one of the reasons I got this job,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: that I was even looking into it at all, was
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: that I really wanted to make documentaries and I really
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  Speaker 1: really really really really really wanted to go to Antarctica.
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  Speaker 1: And I even pitched a podcast show that God A
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: proved to go to Antarctica. Wow, And I got funding
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  Speaker 1: and then I believe it couldn't have been COVID something
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  Speaker 1: some government thing happened that shut down the funding. No
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  Speaker 1: one was going anymore, and so I never went. But
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  Speaker 1: I've said before, I want to go, but I want
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  Speaker 1: to go in a way that won't make me feel
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  Speaker 1: like a terrible person for the environment. So I had
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: found a way to do it, and I was really
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  Speaker 1: excited about it, and then it got canceled, and ultimately
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  Speaker 1: that's that's fine. But then I saw this story and
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  Speaker 1: it just upset me so much. And it's about the
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  Speaker 1: experiences women have had, women who work in scientific fields
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  Speaker 1: when they've gone to Antarctica, and so I really wanted
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  Speaker 1: to talk about it. I got a lot of this
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  Speaker 1: from the Wired article these women came to Antarctica for science.
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  Speaker 1: Then the predators emerged by David Kushner. So recently there
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  Speaker 1: has been a lot of whistlebowling about sexual harassment in Antarctica.
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  Speaker 1: A twenty twenty two report by the National Science Foundation
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  Speaker 1: found that fifty nine percent of women at US run
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  Speaker 1: antarctic research centers had experienced sexual assault, and we wanted
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  Speaker 1: to detail these recent accusations. The National Science Foundation is
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: the primary funder of Antarctic research, and many of these
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  Speaker 1: stories are truly hearing, very disturbing. So in nineteen ninety nine,
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  Speaker 1: twenty two year old Jane Willenbring began her Masters in
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  Speaker 1: Earth science at Boston University. In undergrad she'd studied beetle
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  Speaker 1: fossils that were discovered in Antarctica, and it was a
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  Speaker 1: discipline that she saw as crucial and critical when it
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: came to understanding climate change. So she followed this passion
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  Speaker 1: and attended Boston University, in part because a professor there
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  Speaker 1: no one for studying things in this field, then thirty
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  Speaker 1: seven year old David Marchin. He was well known for
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  Speaker 1: his work and including his discovery of volcanic ash in Antarctica,
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  Speaker 1: which changed the view of the continent's history. It was
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  Speaker 1: a discovery that was so impactful that the US Board
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  Speaker 1: of Geographic Names named a glacier near the McMurdo Station
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  Speaker 1: the primary research facility there after him. According to will
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  Speaker 1: and Bring, Market was insistent on picking her up at
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  Speaker 1: the airport when she arrived, and then he proceeded to
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  Speaker 1: make her feel guilty about it, like I think, he said,
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  Speaker 1: like there's a baseball game I could have gone to,
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  Speaker 1: and then started asking very personal questions, including if she
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  Speaker 1: had a boyfriend, if she knew anybody in the area.
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  Speaker 1: And they were scheduled to go to Antarctica together, and
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  Speaker 1: they did towards the end of nineteen ninety nine, along
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  Speaker 1: with grad student Adam Lewis. Willen Bring began feeling discomfort
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  Speaker 1: on the eight hour flight to McMurdo when the planes
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  Speaker 1: bathroom was just a bucket with a curtain that made
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  Speaker 1: it very difficult for women to peeve without exposing themselves. Allegedly,
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  Speaker 1: Market refused to order women a p funnel because he
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  Speaker 1: believed it was quote gross having women stand up while
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  Speaker 1: VP still willen Brang was excited to arrive at Antarctica
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  Speaker 1: and eager to start collecting samples and get to work.
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  Speaker 1: She'd done all the training on how to survive there
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  Speaker 1: and the rules around the facility. She wasn't the only
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  Speaker 1: one learning the rope so because Market had brought his
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  Speaker 1: older brother, Jeffrey, who was not a scientist. When she
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  Speaker 1: voiced her concerns to Market, he dismissed her, instead, telling
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  Speaker 1: her to call Jeffrey by his quote porn star name
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  Speaker 1: Ken Tonka, in part given to him because his penis
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  Speaker 1: was like a Tonka truck. Not long after they arrived her,
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  Speaker 1: the Market brothers and Lewis flew about seventy miles away
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  Speaker 1: to do some research. Market expressed his belief in roughing
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  Speaker 1: it for the weeks that they would be there, and
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  Speaker 1: he was very harsh towards anyone who, in his mind,
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  Speaker 1: couldn't keep up with him, and was even harsher towards women.
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  Speaker 1: Other women have shared their stories to back this up.
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  Speaker 1: On top of that, Markett had only brought three tenths
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  Speaker 1: for the four of them, suggesting that Willian brig share
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  Speaker 1: one with his brother Jeffrey, because Jeffrey liked her. Over
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  Speaker 1: the next few days, he continued to try to ingratiate
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  Speaker 1: her to his brother, going so far as to ask
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  Speaker 1: if she had seen his penis, and unfortunately she had.
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  Speaker 1: She had awoken to him peeting with an erection on
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  Speaker 1: more than one occasion. Due to the power and balance
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  Speaker 1: the isolation and the gatekeeping in terms of opportunities in
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  Speaker 1: the field, Willimburing didn't feel comfortable complaining there was only
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  Speaker 1: one radio that could contact Murdo, and Murcant was the
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  Speaker 1: one that had it. The days got tougher, both in
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  Speaker 1: terms of weather and Market's drill sergeant like behavior. After
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  Speaker 1: discovering a piece of granite that was a great find
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  Speaker 1: in terms of the historical record, Willian Bring was dismissed
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  Speaker 1: by Market. She knew her find was meaningful, though, and
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  Speaker 1: she had come to realize that he just liked messing
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  Speaker 1: with her head. No matter what she did, she was wrong,
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  Speaker 1: and one instant he asked her to look at a
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  Speaker 1: sediment sample and then blew it into her eye. He
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  Speaker 1: pushed her down a path she was struggling with climbing,
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  Speaker 1: he'd throw rocks at her while she was peeing. She
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  Speaker 1: started to limit her water intake so she wouldn't have
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  Speaker 1: to pee as much, and it's eventually led to her
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  Speaker 1: getting a bladder infection and peeing blood. And in response
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  Speaker 1: to that, he told her to drink cranberry juice and
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  Speaker 1: she still deals with that to this day in terms
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  Speaker 1: of bladder issues. Once the trip was over and they
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  Speaker 1: were back in Boston, Willenbring was asked to write a
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  Speaker 1: tenure recommendation for Merchant, which she did because she was
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  Speaker 1: afraid not doing so would hurt her opportunities. Eventually, she
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  Speaker 1: left Boston to pursue a PhD in Canada and then
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  Speaker 1: got a job in Pennsylvania as an assistant professor in
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  Speaker 1: the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University
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  Speaker 1: of Pennsylvania. However, sexism followed her there, and she encountered
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  Speaker 1: comments about her weight when she was pregnant, her nipples,
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  Speaker 1: and her clothes. One day, she had to take her
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  Speaker 1: three year old daughter to the lab, and after seeing
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  Speaker 1: her mom in action. Her daughter declared like she wanted
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  Speaker 1: to be a scientist too, and this made will and
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  Speaker 1: Bring cry thinking of what she had endured and what
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  Speaker 1: her daughter might endure if she pursued a career in science,
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  Speaker 1: and so that experience prompted her to speak out about
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  Speaker 1: what happened. She wrote up a letter of complaint, but
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  Speaker 1: then kept herself from sending it because she was still
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  Speaker 1: afraid for her career. After moving once again and getting tenure,
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  Speaker 1: willen Bring filed a Title nine complaint against Merkamp. The
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  Speaker 1: first response from Boston University left her hopeful, and two
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  Speaker 1: other women soon followed suit. And this was when the
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  Speaker 1: me too movement was really in full swing, and the
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  Speaker 1: story even reached full frontal with Samantha Bee quote, you
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  Speaker 1: can't even go to the most remote part of the
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  Speaker 1: planet without some dude swinging his cold, shriveled dick your way.
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  Speaker 1: Boston University determined that Market had sexually her ass will
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  Speaker 1: and Bring, but ultimately put him on unpaid three year suspension,
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  Speaker 1: though he was eventually fired two years later. In twenty eighteen,
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  Speaker 1: five women came forward with allegations of sexual harassment and
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  Speaker 1: coercion and bullying on the inaugural voyage for women in
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  Speaker 1: stem To Antarctica, and it was all about developing leadership.
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  Speaker 1: One of the women alleged that she woke up next
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  Speaker 1: to a naked man with no memory of what happened, which,
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  Speaker 1: by the way, this trip, ostensibly about research, cost seventy
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  Speaker 1: six women fifteen thousand dollars and had the slogan mother
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  Speaker 1: Nature needs her daughters. One of the women attendees, Meredith Nash,
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  Speaker 1: documented the trip and collected a lot of disturbing information,
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  Speaker 1: like when she was looking back over what she'd collected,
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  Speaker 1: she found footage of a woman crying because a man
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  Speaker 1: had tried to force his way into her room without permission.
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  Speaker 1: After following up, the woman relaid she'd reported this two officials.
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  Speaker 1: She later said this was a voyage for women to
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  Speaker 1: go to Antarctica and break boundaries, and instead the few
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  Speaker 1: men on board made this experience feel like a microcosm
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  Speaker 1: of the real world. I felt unsafe and what happened
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  Speaker 1: to me brought me back to reality. Allegedly, two crew
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  Speaker 1: members were fired after this incident, and the company released
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  Speaker 1: a set of rules to improve future voyages. A lot
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  Speaker 1: of them were the rules you'd read and'd be like, Wow,
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  Speaker 1: we had to write this out, okay cool. Nash was
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  Speaker 1: so disturbed by all of this that she surveyed one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and fifty women who had done research in Antarctica.
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  Speaker 1: Over sixty three percent reported being harassed, and half reported
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  Speaker 1: that they had never come forward about it. The numbers
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  Speaker 1: and stories were so sobering that in twenty twenty, the
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  Speaker 1: Australian Antarctic Division brought Nash in to do a government
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  Speaker 1: funded study of their programs in terms of diversity, inclusion
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  Speaker 1: and equity. Very soon after she started, as she says,
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  Speaker 1: it was one of the first stories she got someone
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  Speaker 1: pointed out a man and said that he had raped
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  Speaker 1: a woman that was working right next to him. Still,
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  Speaker 1: over the next two years, Nash collected a plethora of
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  Speaker 1: stories about harassment and assault, all made worse by the
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  Speaker 1: fact of the region's remote remoteness, because even if you
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  Speaker 1: wanted to leave, you can't. Like literally often, you literally can't.
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  Speaker 1: In twenty twenty one, Antarctic Division offices started offering menstrual products.
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  Speaker 1: Twenty twenty one, they hired three women in hire up
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  Speaker 1: positions and quote improved training around sexual misconduct. A lot
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  Speaker 1: of women have shared stories of reporting men harassing them,
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  Speaker 1: are assaulting them and being told that, oh, he'll be disciplined,
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  Speaker 1: only to have to work with him later. And after
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  Speaker 1: being raped, one woman was told we have concluded that
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  Speaker 1: a sexual incident took place that resulted in feelings of
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  Speaker 1: humiliation and extreme discomfort for you. After these stories and
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  Speaker 1: numbers started coming out, one of the main players claimed
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  Speaker 1: there have been zero allegations of sexual assault over the
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  Speaker 1: previous five years, despite numerous testimonies to the contrary. At
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, survey found that the situation isn't much better,
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  Speaker 1: with one third of women reporting witnessing or experiencing bullying
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  Speaker 1: or harassment over the past two months. Nash has said, quote,
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  Speaker 1: the reason why women don't want to talk is because
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  Speaker 1: they've been gaslt this whole time, where everyone's saying it
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  Speaker 1: didn't happen. I don't want to hear it. I don't
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  Speaker 1: believe you. And to be clear, this impacts the study
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  Speaker 1: of climate change. This is a huge deal for it
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  Speaker 1: to just be like a men's club and let them
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  Speaker 1: harass and bully with like our planet is on the line.
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  Speaker 1: This one silver lining as Smiles it is Market's name
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  Speaker 1: was stripped from the glacier that was once named after him.
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  Speaker 1: But it's such a small silver line.
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  Speaker 2: Oh right. I mean probably for him though, it was
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  Speaker 2: humiliating because that was probably his big thing and he
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  Speaker 2: was like, I was the line and then to be
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  Speaker 2: stripped of that that probably the hardest pride, more than anything,
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  Speaker 2: probably worse than jail for him.
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  Speaker 1: It's true. I believe Will em Brings said he used
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  Speaker 1: it as a pickup line almost. He's like, I have
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  Speaker 1: a glacier named after me.
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  Speaker 2: Oh gross, well that's taken away from him.
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  Speaker 3: That's just the most like the fact that something basic,
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  Speaker 3: just human decency is not even thought of in a
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  Speaker 3: world where you know what you're.
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  Speaker 2: Doing is significant like that. It's how do you grasp
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  Speaker 2: that knowing that these are things to save things and
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  Speaker 2: you are we're gonna have a significant impact. Maybe that's
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  Speaker 2: not how God likes status, yes, and like territorial thing
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  Speaker 2: that you want to discover something, so you're going to
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  Speaker 2: take that however whatever means possible, and that means the
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  Speaker 2: meaning those who you think is a lesser sex, which
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  Speaker 2: essentially is what they're saying in these like But I just.
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  Speaker 1: Why I think there's a there's a good quote. I
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  Speaker 1: can't remember who said it, but it was a reporter
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  Speaker 1: who did a story about Elon Musk, and he said,
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  Speaker 1: Elon Musk wants to save the world only if he
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: can save it, yea. And I think that's like kind
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  Speaker 1: of what is happening here, right. I think you're right
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  Speaker 1: that he he doesn't unless it's him getting the credit
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  Speaker 1: and the attention. He does not want it.
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  Speaker 2: He's like, if it's not and if you don't fall
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  Speaker 2: to your knees worshiping me, then you're not of worth.
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  Speaker 1: It's just I didn't talk about it in here too much.
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  Speaker 1: But there was also a his high school teacher. I
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  Speaker 1: believe she came forward because he asked her to go,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: and she went and he was horrible to her, right,
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  Speaker 1: And it's so like the things I was reading sounded
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  Speaker 1: like I cannot believe people do this that are not
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  Speaker 1: like widely like in jail or labeled like he's a
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: tenured professor, right.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, they've been getting away with it, and unfortunately
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  Speaker 2: that the people in power have remained in power, and
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: people are scared to bring people of power down.
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  Speaker 1: And I was thinking about it, just the idea of
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  Speaker 1: being like he had the radio what are you gonna
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: do right that he would control your one way to
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  Speaker 1: get out? That's ah, he's terrifying.
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  Speaker 2: That's a horror movie. Yeah, we've seen these scenarios.
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  Speaker 1: It's horrible and it makes me so sad because listeners know,
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: I love this stuff. I love right when we do
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: episodes about scientific often kind of obscure scientific things, but
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: so many times when we've done that, like the Shark
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: episode comes to mind too, women in Shark science, it's
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  Speaker 1: men doing this truly horrific things and really controlling who
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  Speaker 1: like gatekeeping whether or not you're going to move forward
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: in your career. There are some wonderful examples of people
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  Speaker 1: fighting against that right and making these organizations that are
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: lovely and beautiful, but it's just.
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  Speaker 2: So sack there has organizations to fight something that just
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  Speaker 2: should be human decency. Once again, like the time that
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: we have to put that much energy, yes, in order
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: to walk them to the door. Like that's not only
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: do we have to be educated and trained, and then
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: most likely we're going to be more educated and trained
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: the most to prove our worth. Yeah, but then we
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  Speaker 2: also have to have a plan to protect ourselves and
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: to be able to do it. Equally or equitably like
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  Speaker 2: and able to do something that you love and that
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  Speaker 2: is a contribution to society.
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  Speaker 1: Mm hm.
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  Speaker 2: But you have to use your other power with willpower
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  Speaker 2: and strength and intelligence to start an organization that protects
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  Speaker 2: you to just be there.
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  Speaker 1: And it's so much energy, like to think about like
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: if I was at a job where I had to
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: think about how much I was going to drink and
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: how much I might have to peean. Right, that takes
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: up like brain power and energy. That's ridiculous.
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  Speaker 2: And then protecting yourself can get you ostracized.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely it can. Women are so often especially women,
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  Speaker 1: but a lot people are so often labeled as though
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  Speaker 1: you're being you're being weak, you're being emotional, you can't
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  Speaker 1: handle it, you can't tough it. In his mind.
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  Speaker 2: You're not networking, you don't play it, you're not a
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: team player.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: Which, oh, you just want to blow like crystallized sedimented
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  Speaker 1: to my eye. Wow, I can't believe I wasn't on
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  Speaker 1: board with.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: That writ until damage. What are you talking about?
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: It's just a joke, Like not that she ever would
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: have done it, but she had done that to him,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: she would have been fired to meet.
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  Speaker 2: Right immediately and it honestly is like an assault.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, Oh, it infuriates me, and it really makes me
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: angry that she felt like she started crying when her
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: daughter said she wanted to be a scientist. And it
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: makes me angry that when I read this, I was like,
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: I wonder what would have happened if I had gone.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: I wonder what would have happened to me? And it
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: was like something I wanted so desperately, And I'm like, oh, okay,
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: it sounds like I would not be welcome there. I
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: should not go. So it's infuriating listeners. If any of
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: you have thoughts about this, if you have been to Antarctica,
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: let us know. You can email us at Stephanie mom
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: Stuff at iHeartMedia dot com. You can find us on
• 18:02
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• 18:04
  Speaker 1: at stuff I Never Told You. We're also on YouTube.
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• 18:09
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• 18:11
  Speaker 1: as always too, our super producer Christina, our executive producer Maya,
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: and our contributor Joey. Thank you, yes, and thanks to
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: you for listening. Stuff I Never Told You is production
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