#Distractinglysexy Twitter campaign mocks sexist scientist

"Three things happen when [women] are in a lab...you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticize them, they cry". These are the words of leading biochemist and Englishman Tim Hunt, who let this shit tumble out of his mouth on Wednesday while holding court about why laboratories should be segregated by gender at the World Conference of Science Journalists in Seoul.

Naturally, quite a lot of people believe that men and women can and should work together in laboratories, including the Royal Society, a leading science community of which Hunt is a fellow. When a club – it could be PC Music, it could be a group of the world's best scientific thinkers – has a member who does something shitty, they generally chuck them under the bus and say they never liked them anyway.

The Royal Society has written on its website: "Too many talented individuals do not fulfil their scientific potential because of issues such as gender and the Society is committed to helping to put this right. Sir Tim Hunt was speaking as an individual and his reported comments in no way reflect the views of the Royal Society."

Vagenda Magazine aren't impressed with Hunt either. The mag has launched the #distractinglysexy hashtag, a place to collect photos of influential women through the ages, who you know, were pretty good.

While Tim Hunt's comments come across as ridiculously dated, the concepts behind them mean that women historically haven't been as recognised as men in many industries. The sexism isn't reduced to science – many in the fashion and music industry have spoken out about how they're not taken as seriously as men, or treated with the same respect.

Here are a few of our favourite tweets, but send yours to @DazedMagazine with the hashtag #distractinglysexy.