Role Models

There is an idea going around that says that one way of fighting gender unbalance , or the under representation of minorities is by increasing the visibility of certain people. A Black president, for example, is a great symbol to show that positions of power are not exclusive to white males.

And this can be applied at every situation, and both with minorities, or genders. A female professor, a non-white science communicator, etc. If that person can, then I can as well.

But are we going to scrutinize role models equally? James Watson is a misoginist, racist, Nobel-prize winner who could be considered a role model for many people. If he would have been black (or a woman), would he still be in such a notorious position?

Related: The Liberation of RNA