Thinking deeply about other people’s feelings forced me to confront my own. I’d been treating emotions as weaknesses and distractions, things to conquer or at least ignore. I thought this was a noble commitment. Whether science appealed to me because it neatly aligns with that worldview, or whether I thought that worldview was a requirement of doing good science, I’m not sure.
I think this is a fantastic jumping-off point for discussions about how neurotypical and gendered norms interplay and shape our personal experiences.