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# Why did the Evening Standard focus on an engineer's sex appeal?
- URL: https://onemanandhisblog.com/2014/04/why-did-the-evening-standard-focus-on-an/
- Published: 2014-04-24T16:15:00.000Z
- Updated: 2015-04-08T16:14:30.000Z
- Author: Adam Tinworth
- Tags: evening standard, Journalism, science, sexism

![Thumbnail image for Evening Standard Erection ](https://i2.wp.com/www.onemanandhisblog.com/content/images/2014/04/erection-dress-standard-thumb-660xauto-3688.jpg?resize=660%2C495)

An e-mail from the Ada Lovelace Day folks dropped into my in-box the other day, mentioning that [Roma Agrawal](http://www.romatheengineer.com/?ref=onemanandhisblog.com) would be [speaking at Ada Lovelace Day Live](http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=a4a560af0bd589b6c036469ec&id=fe4608d3cc&e=8c204373a0&ref=onemanandhisblog.com). That set a little alarm ringing in my head that I’d seen her name before recently, and meant to write about it.

You see, I was reading a profile of her in the *Evening Standard*, after picking up a copy left on a train, and after getting slightly annoyed at the “[Gosh! An attractive female engineer!](http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/woman-on-top-of-the-world-the-ms-leading-lady-who-helped-build-the-shard-9225598.html?ref=onemanandhisblog.com)” tone of the piece, nearly choked on my coffee when I got to this line:

> This softly spoken 30-year-old in a yellow dress is the woman who made sure the biggest erection in Western Europe didn’t fall down.

Seriously?

Did we *really* need to go there – connecting her dress and the word “erection”? Do we really have to focus on this talented and successful engineer’s sex appeal?

Honestly, I expected to see that the author was a man – but no, it was Susannah Butter, evidently a woman. And I was shocked enough that I ended up grabbing a photo, intending to write about it.

Am I reading too much into this – or is this a gratuitous and unnecessary sexualisation of a feature about an engineer? Would we ever consider commenting on the dress and sex appeal of an equivalent male engineer?

**UPDATE:** As it turns out, Roma has already [written a response](http://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership/2014/apr/17/women-business-banter-innuendos?ref=onemanandhisblog.com):

> This one sentence contradicts the core message of the article: that women can excel in engineering and other male dominated industries on their merit. I believe women should be judged on their skills and contribution in the workplace and shouldn’t have to fear being sexualised.