A microbiologist in woman's clothing?

There's been another round of science blogs talking about the way woman present themselves as scientists... whether as a group we're too androgenous right now to attract modern young women to science professions, whether we're not taken as seriously as scientists if we dress in too feminine of a manner. I think we're all doing a fine job being ourselves, and that the younger generation of profs, at least, wouldn't think less of a professor who wears the latest fashions or sparkly shoes. Just as we don't think less of heavily tatooed scientists.

But... my only (anonymous) comment that failed to pass Female Science Professor's filter was one on how women in science's clothing is perceived by male scientists. The point of the comment was that men do look at female scientists (students) differently than they do male scientists (students), but the problem is we don't know whether or not that affects their bottom line opinion about the research, intelligence or contribution of those women. And I think this is more of an issue when the male and female scientists don't know each other well. At a conference a few years ago, I overheard two male professors discussing the necklines of female graduate students and their visible figures during one of the presentations. I hope that these men remember that the slender grad student with the plunging-neckline dress and jeans combo was presenting a poster on milk microflora... for at least as long as they remembered what her bust looked like. I always wore more modest clothes to conferences than I might wear at home, but now the incident comes up in the back of my mind when I'm packing for a meeting... because I would like to be remembered for my science and my mind first, and anything else -- being female, being American, being an able drinker, anything pertaining to my secondary sex characteristics -- second.

I don't worry about this with people who interact with me on a regular basis. If I'm wearing a nicer fabric, low-cut v-neck one day, my colleagues know from experience a crumpled t-shirt and fleece might emerge tomorrow. Even when I'm on my more modest behavior, I do wear clothes I like and that match my style. For my tenure-track job interviews, for instance, I wore very modern pantsuits with shoes I adored: Paul Green angular-cut heels, and Etienne Aigner strappy mary jane heels. And as I become more senior in my field I am sure I will care less and less about meeting clothing, both because I'll have had so many interactions with the people at the conferences, and because, I'm assuming, fewer male professors talk about the body shape of 50 year old women scientists they have known for 20+ years than the 25 year old grad students they just met.