Other students expressed fears and insecurities of various kinds. They described science as "threatening and for the 'smart' people," or as "specialized and abstract" and "technical." Many believed that science was too hard for them. Lack of knowledge and preparation combined with poor early experiences contribute to these fears. Severe limitations in the numbers and types of science courses required by the high-school and university curricula left some students feeling that they were ill-equipped to understand scientific arguments.

Equally often, however, students invoked the "two cultures" split. Some did so obliquely. "I decided courses in the social sciences were more geared to my future" one student wrote. "I disliked the sciences" others argued. But, like one 21-year-old woman, some spoke more explicitly. Asked why she had never taken biology at the university level, this student responded: "Fear! I'm an English Major, and actually wanted a Biology/English double major, however, I lacked the confidence having being [sic] stereotyped as artsie!" One could not, students suggested, do both arts and science, and more often than not, they found themselves drawn to the former.

Students linked their arguments about the divide between science and the arts to the opinion that science formed part of a world that they neither belonged to nor valued. The frequency of observations that science courses seemed "distant," "abstracted" and "irrelevant" provided a general indication of alienation. Other answers indicated that students had set themselves apart from science, or saw themselves to be apart, for primarily political and ideological reasons: "science is a capitalist institution" they suggested; science is "institutionalized as a male dominant field"; "historically/traditionally science has been/is used as a tool of oppression"; "scientific thought is generally male created and misogynist in nature ... science can easily be used as a handy tool to subjugate [sic] women in our already oppressive society."

Qualitative data suggested a tension between current feminism and science; once again, quantitative data loosely support the trends. In response to the pointed questions, "Do you think that the content of science is anti-woman? Do you think that the method or enterprise of science is anti-feminist?," 50% of all 209 respondents, and 66% and 70% of the respondents in the two science and gender courses, answered positively.

The structure of the survey provided the opportunity to ask initial questions about the extent to which disaffection with science was based on experiences in the discipline. The data suggest that the apparent tension between science and feminism derives more from theoretical concerns than from actual time in the field. Those students who believed that science was anti-feminist were consistently those who had taken the least science. Only 28% of those who gave a definite yes answer had taken any biology beyond high school. In other words, 72% of those who believed that science was anti-feminist had taken no college science.

The divide works both ways. In the aftermath of the Montreal Massacre, women scientists distance from feminism rang loud and clear. "Female engineers are pitching hard to get young women into engineering, but don't feel they have to espouse feminism to do so," the Globe and Mail reported. "Feminism not prerequisite"; women should "think about the profession, not all the extraneous stuff," an eminent woman engineer advised (6).

Student reactions document this growing divide between women's studies and women scientists. Those respondents who had studied the most science least often identified it as containing any anti-woman or anti-feminist content. Seventy percent of the respondents who answered "no" to the questions "Do you think that the content of science is anti-woman?

Do you think that the method or enterprise of science is anti-feminist?" had taken at least two university-level courses in lab science. "Not in my experience," they repeatedly answered. "I have found all my professors very helpful and the other students (male) were not biased or macho. I think women are generally accepted in the sciences. My brother says its mostly soft sciences that women are accepted and that women in his engineering class still have some problems, but I don't know whether this is true or not." Denial often gave way to open hostility.