Social Justice — Claudia M. Astorino

Equity in STEM

Scientists are indigenous, Black, Latinx, people of color, LGBTQIA, disabled, and/or women. However, the majority of senior, high-profile scientists have long been - and continue to be - white, Western, straight, cisgender, non-intersex, able-bodied men. This needs to change, and such change is long overdue.

I strongly support efforts to advocate for equity in STEM to support scientists from underrepresented communities. The following shows several ways I am currently, or have previously, worked toward equity in STEM.

gAyAPA

Steering Committee member of the subcommittee of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists’s (AAPA) Committee on Diversity serving LGBTQIA members & their allies

NYCEP Student Diversity & Inclusion Committee

Co-Founder of a group for doctoral students in the New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology (NYCEP) to support BIPOC, LGBTQIA, and women NYCEP affiliates

NYU Women in Natural Sciences (NYU-WINS)

Graduate mentor for undergraduate women in the sciences & mathematics at NYU, to assist them in navigating their university studies, graduate school, and professional positions in science via faculty and graduate student mentors

Intersex Human Rights

I am also a human rights advocate for intersex people, or those who are born with a combination of traits that are considered traditionally male, traditionally female, and/or atypical for either in the same body. Intersex babies and children are routinely subjected to surgeries and other medical procedures that are for cosmetic purposes and do not track health.

I am proud to be an intersex person, and have been raising awareness that intersex people exist and have the right to bodily autonomy and bodily integrity since 2010. The following includes some of the work I have done to advocate for intersex human rights.