Many women who work at McMurdo Station, the main United States research base in Antarctica, say the isolated environment and macho culture have allowed sexual harassment and assault to flourish.

The National Science Foundation, the federal agency that oversees the U.S. Antarctic Program, published a report in 2022 in which 59% of women said they’d experienced harassment or assault while on the ice, and 72% of women said such behavior was a problem in Antarctica.

But the problem goes beyond the harassment, The Associated Press found. In reviewing court records and internal communications, and in interviews with more than a dozen current and former employees, the AP uncovered a pattern of women who said their claims of harassment or assault were minimized by their employers, often leading to them or others being put in further danger.

    • ComputerSagtNein@lemm.ee
      01·
      1 year ago

      Only possible if you do an all female mission imo.

      All male mission -> they kill each other

      Mixed mission -> they kill the women and probably themselves after

      Edit: Lmao lots of insecure men around here.

          • babeuh@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            1 year ago

            I found this study about the differences (but it’s from 2014, please tell me if you find a more recent one) The Impact of Sex and Gender on Adaptation to Space: Executive Summary.

            TL;DR female astronauts have, according to the study:

            • a higher risk of cancer (a 45-year-old man has a 344-day limit in space to be safe versus a 187-day limit for a 45-year-old woman)
            • more orthostatic intolerance
            • more UTIs (which makes sense as women on earth are also more likely to have UTIs)
            • less vision impairment compared to male astronauts (no clinically significant cases of VIIP syndrome)
            • less hearing problems (men show a more rapid decline in the left ear and in general like on Earth)


            Keep in mind that this data is not the best because only around 20% of people that had been on the ISS at the time were women and because male astronauts are more likely to come from a military background.

  • OceanSoap@lemmy.ml
    1·
    1 year ago

    Yeah, as a woman, I’d be real hesitant about taking a job out there, or any place thats more wild-west in nature (very few people and very lax regulation of any laws) and I’d sure as hell take gun tactical training before going, and always have a firearm on me.

  • Ace0fBlades@lemmy.world
    0·
    1 year ago

    Makes you wonder what challenges women will face in future space exploration missions. Long periods of isolation with groups of coworkers with very little personal space. Not like a belligerent party can be ejected out the airlock (It’'ll probably happen who am I kidding)

    • theodewere@kbin.social
      1·
      1 year ago

      there’s no doubt that sexual predation would be a big issue and that women would be the first victims of any violence, but it’s just part of the greater concern over authority in such a small society… who is in charge, how are rules enforced and misbehavior punished… i’m not optimistic that a Mars outpost would be able to survive its own judicial system, for example… or any of the prepper compounds… they’re sort of all guaranteed to descend into really barbaric circumstances socially…

      • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
        1·
        1 year ago

        or any of the prepper compounds

        You wouldn’t want to be stuck for a long time in a society made up exclusively of people with severe anxiety and personal issues who reject society? I can’t imagine why.