Ellie Rose Mattoon pens a reported essay about her torturous relationship with the term "woman in STEM": 

In seventh-grade science class, I was assigned a report on a famous scientist.

After minimal consideration of other options, I chose Jonas Salk, the man who invented the polio vaccine. To me, the decision was simple: viruses and the immune system felt like two warring armies inside of the human body, waging battles worthy of a blockbuster movie. I was planning on devoting the majority of my report to them, not to Salk.

I’m not sure why my teacher pulled me aside specifically among the substantial number of girls in our mandatory science class (maybe she pulled us all aside one by one), but she lightly suggested that I consider researching a female scientist instead. It would be good for me, she insinuated. The only problem was I hated that idea.