--- title: 'Science' Deletes Column Advising Student to 'Put Up With' Advisor Staring Down Her Shirt description: Backlash on social media led the magazine to pull the advice column. canonical: https://time.com/3908382/science-advice-column-researcher-breasts-advisor/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-04T02:24:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:57:05.624Z og:title: 'Science' Deletes Column Advising Student to 'Put Up With' Advisor Staring Down Her Shirt og:description: The online backlash was swift and predictable og:url: https://time.com/3908382/science-advice-column-researcher-breasts-advisor/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Science' Deletes Column Advising Student to 'Put Up With' Advisor Staring Down Her Shirt twitter:description: The online backlash was swift and predictable twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # _Science_ Deletes Column Advising Student to 'Put Up With' Advisor Staring Down Her Shirt  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jun 4, 2015 2:24 AM UTC  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jun 4, 2015 2:24 AM UTC _Science Magazine_ retracted a career-advice column published Monday that counseled a student to “put up with” sexual harassment, a move that came after critics took to social media to lambast the author, an established female scientist. A young researcher wrote into the advice columnist, Caltech faculty member Alice Huang, asking for help with a new advisor. “Whenever we meet in his office, I catch him trying to look down my shirt,” the student [wrote](http://web.archive.org/web/20150601150626/http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career%5Fmagazine/previous%5Fissues/articles/2015%5F06%5F01/caredit.a1500140) (the link is a cached version of the piece). Huang replied that the advisor’s inappropriate glances likely did not qualify as sexual harassment legally speaking, so the student should just get over it. “As long as your adviser does not move on to other advances, I suggest you put up with it, with good humor if you can,” Huang wrote. “Just make sure that he is listening to you and your ideas, taking in the results you are presenting, and taking your science seriously. His attention on your chest may be unwelcome, but you need his attention on your science and his best advice.” It’s disheartening advice from a woman in science with an impressive résumé. Female scientists already struggle enough against sexism in research labs without unwanted sexual attention. A [2014 study showed](http://time.com/2969814/women-male-scientists/) that male faculty members were less likely than female faculty members to hire female trainees in their labs. Beyond that, the study noted, the more accolades that a male scientist has, the less likely he is to hire qualified women. The online backlash was swift and predictable. The hashtags [#worsesciencecareeradvice](https://twitter.com/hashtag/worsesciencecareeradvice?src=hash) and #dontAskAlice quickly emerged. > [](https://twitter.com/roseveleth/status/605392842291343360) > [](https://twitter.com/j%5Fzimms/status/605394834849992704) > [](https://twitter.com/eyedoc333/status/605566944528461824) Following the outrage, _Science_ removed the article from its site and [posted](http://retractionwatch.com/2015/06/01/science-pulls-advice-post-suggests-student-put-up-with-advisor-looking-down-her-shirt/) a retraction. --- > “” --- K ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3908382/science-advice-column-researcher-breasts-advisor/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3908382/science-advice-column-researcher-breasts-advisor/"},"headline":"Science Deletes Column Advising Student to 'Put Up With' Advisor Staring Down Her Shirt","datePublished":"2015-06-04T02:24:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:57:05.624Z","description":"The online backlash was swift and predictable","url":"https://time.com/3908382/science-advice-column-researcher-breasts-advisor/","keywords":["Living","sexism"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3908382/science-advice-column-researcher-breasts-advisor/","name":"Science Deletes Column Advising Student to 'Put Up With' Advisor Staring Down Her Shirt"}}]}] ```