Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski: Postfeminism and the representation of Latina scientists

This study examines news coverage of the physicist Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski (SGP) through the lens of intersectional feminist critique. Since attaining minor celebrity in 2016, SGP may be the most famous Latinx American scientist to this date, but one whose fame has been dominated by what Rosalind Gill calls the “postfeminist sensibility.” Performing content analysis on 69 news articles, this study finds that media coverage of SGP has predominantly fixated on her childhood achievements at the expense of her scientific work. Drawing on the work of Anita Harris, this study argues that the media’s double stereotyping of SGP as an “exceptional woman” and as a Latina “can-do girl” precluded serious interest in her research. Thus, in the case of Latina scientists, the harms of postfeminism go beyond its oft-noted political impotence: postfeminism robs Latina girls of scientific role models by covering Latina scientists frivolously. Considering a recent talk by SGP, I conclude by highlighting the need for intersectionality in academic discussions of justice in science and in representations of women in science.