Gen Z Woman Posts PhD, Says ‘You Can Call Me Doctor,’ Men...

By Rachael O'Connor

Life and Trends Reporter

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A woman celebrating a major academic achievement shared the news to social media, only to be overwhelmed by shockingly sexist responses.

Dr. Juliet Turner, 27, is an ecologist who recently earned her Ph.D. from the University of Oxford in the U. K.—the number-one-ranked university in the world, according to the annual Times Higher Education.

Turner's thesis, a study on the evolution of cooperation and division of labor in insects, earned her the title of Doctor of Philosophy, after she successfully defended her work in the final stage, known as a viva.

This achievement came after four years of hard research, which Turner described to Newsweek as "building very large data sets, coding, and running evolutionary models and statistical tests."

While the internet is full of people celebrating their wins, from the everyday to major life goals, when Turner opted to do the same, she didn't get the reaction she expected. Instead, the newly minted doctor was hit with a barrage of horrific messages from online trolls, some of whom declared she was a failure because she was in academia instead of having children.

In a post to her account, @juliet_turner6 on November 14, Turner shared a photo of herself and wrote: "I passed my viva exam! After ~4 years of research, I successfully defended my thesis. You can call me Doctor."

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The post earned more than 51,000 likes, and while the congratulations began rolling in, there were other kinds of responses against women in academia.

One man wrote: "'Just look at the degree on that chick.'—No man ever"—and got a flurry of replies in response, with one woman writing: "Imagine thinking what men think is even SLIGHTLY relevant to us women deciding to pursue higher education."

But this was just the tip of the iceberg, as sexist comments came pouring in. One X user, who posts under a male name, said: "she's got a Ph.D. in Biology, but failed miserably in Biology—30 years old and zero kids. Her ancestors are ashamed of her."

"You are 30 years old with no husband or kids—genetic dead end in an unbroken line of succession from your ancestors since the beginning of time," read another comment, also appearing to be from a man. This is despite Turner being 27, not 30.

Others also posting under what appear to be male accounts said Turner "could've had four babies in that time," and "them eggs aren't getting any younger." Another user who appears to be male said: "If you follow an academic career, you will be unlikely to ever have or raise children—thus billions of years of evolution and suffering ends with you and your thesis."

Plenty of people defended and supported Turner, with one user calling the responses "pure jealousy."

Turner told Newsweek she "never expected this response," adding that it is "really hard to process the scale of it."

"Every time I open the app, I'm flooded by new posts of strangers weighing in on either the validity of my thesis topic, the health of my eggs, or the wisdom of my life choices! Very weird."

Turner added, however, that "on the bright side, I have really enjoyed the opportunity to talk about my research, and it's very motivating to have so many people genuinely interested in it."

"After defending my thesis during my viva [exam], I didn't expect to have to defend it again to a global audience of a few million strangers only a few days later."

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Responding to the direct attacks, Turner said the "idea that doing a Ph.D. means you probably won’t have children is odd. I come from an academic family myself, so I’m living proof that academics are capable of self-replication!"

Turner said it appears to be "much more likely" for women to have their "private life and reproduction become a public conversation or something you need to justify," and in her case, "I would have been perfectly happy to just keep reading and writing about insects and not raise these topics at all."

Social media users are noticing a rise in misogynistic posts online, with one survey from Amnesty International on Gen Z users in the U.K. finding that 73 percent of respondents had witnessed misogynistic content online.

Seventy percent believe that misogynistic and divisive language has increased online, with TikTok being seen as the worst offender, followed by Instagram, X, YouTube and Facebook.

When it comes to real life away from the internet, Turner said "views about women in STEM are nowhere near as weird or conspicuous."

Though she hasn't experienced it herself, she said there are "challenges when it comes to managing pregnancy and maternity leave as an academic, or attitudes about being a part-time researcher while balancing child care responsibilities and expectations."

Turner has, however, "felt that I can be underestimated or taken less seriously."

She said: "It's a hard line to walk because, on one hand, you want to show that you are capable, but also there are many people who are very ready to interpret your conviction as conceitedness."

Turner is now working as a pollinator ecologist, where, after four years of research, she said it is "very nice to be working with real organisms again."

"As an ecologist, I've been doing lots of fun field and lab work, identifying insects and wild plants for projects on organic and regenerative farming around the U.K. It's nice to do this kind of applied conservation research, but I'm always keen to be involved in exciting evolutionary projects and science communication efforts too."

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