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# #DistractinglySexy Trends in Response to Nobel Scientist's Sexist Remarks

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_Published 2013-12-03. The Science Of Awesome_


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[Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)


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## Olivia B. Waxman


Staff Writer

Jun 12, 2015 2:56 PM UTC

![Olivia B. Waxman](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf3c95204947ba81f/6989408e97cdff3ae16b6e48/o_waxman.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1:1)

by 

[Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)


![Olivia B. Waxman](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf3c95204947ba81f/6989408e97cdff3ae16b6e48/o_waxman.jpg?branch=production&width=96&quality=75&auto=webp)

## Olivia B. Waxman


Staff Writer

Jun 12, 2015 2:56 PM UTC

On Wednesday, Nobel Prize winner Tim Hunt [resigned](http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0615/100615-tim-hunt) from his position as honorary professor at University College London after telling a conference in South Korea that it’s distracting to work alongside “girls” in laboratories because “they fall in love with you and when you criticize them, they cry.”

Since then, the hashtag #distractinglysexy has been trending on social media, as women have been posting photos of the unglamorous life of a research scientist to ridicule the embattled biochemist, who shared the 2001 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for research on [how cells divide](http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel%5Fprizes/medicine/laureates/2001/).

I was so [#distractinglysexy](https://twitter.com/hashtag/distractinglysexy?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) when collecting cheetah crap that even I lost track of what I was doing and dropped some. [pic.twitter.com/3qDS7Hd9aG](http://t.co/3qDS7Hd9aG)

— Anne Hilborn (@AnneWHilborn) [June 11, 2015](https://twitter.com/AnneWHilborn/status/609147719756738561?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw)

It's just really hard working in a coed lab because I'm too distracting to the male scientists [#distractinglysexy](https://twitter.com/hashtag/distractinglysexy?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) [pic.twitter.com/9cZMUpy6TL](http://t.co/9cZMUpy6TL)

— Danielle Spitzer (@DNAielleSpitzer) [June 11, 2015](https://twitter.com/DNAielleSpitzer/status/608826769907568640?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw)

I did an entire Liver Transplant without crying or falling in love. [#distractinglysexy](https://twitter.com/hashtag/distractinglysexy?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) [pic.twitter.com/6RdApuzFo9](http://t.co/6RdApuzFo9)

— Tiffany Anthony MD (@drtanthony) [June 12, 2015](https://twitter.com/drtanthony/status/609343267986014208?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw)

I wish I could concentrate in the lab, but I fell in love with Europasaurus holgeri [#distractinglysexy](https://twitter.com/hashtag/distractinglysexy?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) [#WomenInSTEM](https://twitter.com/hashtag/WomenInSTEM?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) [pic.twitter.com/UdKrpKAamJ](http://t.co/UdKrpKAamJ)

— Franziska Sattler-Morrison, M.Sc. (@ohyeahfranzi) [June 12, 2015](https://twitter.com/ohyeahfranzi/status/609297151567495168?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw)

Mind you, guys in the lab were always checking out my nice rack...[#distractinglysexy](https://twitter.com/hashtag/distractinglysexy?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) [#TimHunt](https://twitter.com/hashtag/TimHunt?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) [pic.twitter.com/xT7jpL0hiE](http://t.co/xT7jpL0hiE)

— 🧬💻Laura Baxter 🌱🔬 (@scientist\_me) [June 10, 2015](https://twitter.com/scientist%5Fme/status/608607052517285888?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw)

There were also jokes about history’s most famous female scientists:

I'm really glad that Curie managed to take a break from crying to discover radium and polonium [#distractinglysexy](https://twitter.com/hashtag/distractinglysexy?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) [pic.twitter.com/txYVHoidK5](http://t.co/txYVHoidK5)

— Amy Remeikis (@AmyRemeikis) [June 11, 2015](https://twitter.com/AmyRemeikis/status/608961761052459008?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw)

Rosalind Franklin was so [#distractinglysexy](https://twitter.com/hashtag/distractinglysexy?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) that Watson and Crick forgot to give her credit for figuring out how DNA worked

— a luminous presence shaped like Seth D. Michaels (@sethdmichaels) [June 12, 2015](https://twitter.com/sethdmichaels/status/609351222630420480?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw)

### See The Best Biology Photos Of The Year

![Two Bisons on the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park, Wyo.](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25511fe443e1eed6/698762e15f570f2109b12f31/lukas-gawenda-bisons-on-grand-prismatic-spring-usa.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp)

Two Bisons on the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. Lukas Gawenda

![A spider at sunset in Predel, Bulgaria.](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt491097c64330461f/698762e1e53abace4c4d5443/krasimir-matarov-spider-from-another-world.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp)

A spider at sunset in Predel, Bulgaria. Krasimir Matarov


![Parental care in parasitoid wasps](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaffc985322bcbd3d/698762e2a988ca07426aa0d8/thomas-endlein-parental-care-in-parasitoid-wasps.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp)

Parasitoid wasps building clay pots in Borneo, Brunei. Thomas Endlein

![Siblings watering newly planted seedlings in Rizal, The Philippines.](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta5fba6b60d94ae3a/698762e53c1639385e44f4c0/ysabel-victoriano-man-made-forest.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp)

Siblings watering newly planted seedlings in Rizal, The Philippines. Ysabel M Victoriano

![A leopard in its natural habitat in Karantaka, India.](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt805949dbe9f20b04/698762e535ba6fe0a2c04ae4/nagarjun-ram-courage-doesnt-always-roar.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp)

A leopard in its natural habitat in Karantaka, India. Nagarjun Ram


![A farmer protects his family and animals from mosquitos in Gujarat, India.](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41d215ddee274049/698762e1f887dc3957e87bcb/dimple-pancholi-life-and-the-environment.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp)

A farmer protects his family and animals from mosquitos in Gujarat, India. Dimple Pancholi

![A tarsier in its natural habitat in Sulawesi, Indonesia.](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9973d42f8ad1f70a/698762e2524fc0c1eedea13a/wolfgang-weinhardt-spectral-tarsier.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp)

A tarsier in its natural habitat in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Wolfgang Weinhardt

![A plant takes advantage of the available shelter in a dilapidated house in Kolmanskop, Namibia.](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbb52a09c46386dcd/698762e0f887dc46f0e87bc7/kelsey-green-striving-succulent.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp)

A plant takes advantage of the available shelter in a dilapidated house in Kolmanskop, Namibia. Kelsey Green


![A female blackbird holding a dried mealworm in her mouth in Lincolnshire, United Kingdom.](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt406a50feb389319d/698762e0cd68480b91097554/billy-clapham-the-suburban-mum.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp)

A female blackbird holding a dried mealworm in her mouth in Lincolnshire, United Kingdom. Billy Clapham

![A chick embryo in a hardened eggshell is sustained until full development in Rizal, The Philippines.](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34e262565900cb9e/698762e23c163970f844f4b9/robert-cabagnot-a-shelter-designed-by-nature.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp)

A chick embryo in a hardened eggshell is sustained until full development in Rizal, The Philippines. Robert Cabagnot

![An adult female Italian crested newt stationed below the fresh water surface in Piedmont, Italy.](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca4300032a499627/698762e1cd6848e1a8097559/matteo-di-nicola-a-lively-belly-in-the-freshwater.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp)

An adult female Italian crested newt stationed below the fresh water surface in Piedmont, Italy. Matteo Riccardo Di Nicola


![A sea turtle eating a jellyfish in The Maldives.](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc0fa91b7a3a730c4/698762e58e06012b9b457ec7/boris-barath-meal-time.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp)

A sea turtle eating a jellyfish in The Maldives. Boris Barath

DistractinglySexy Hashtag Trends After Tim Hunt Resigns

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