A Perilous Path Through Physics

Visualizing the Experiences of Women of Color in STEM

In a new comic zine developed in collaboration with TERC, researcher, educator, and artist Sophie Wang illustrates what it feels like to pursue education and careers in physics within a landscape that does not fully support one’s identity. A Perilous Path Through Physics: Obstacles, Supports, and Strategies of Women of Color in Physics transforms findings from Dr. Maria Ong’s 25-year study, detailed in her book The Double Bind in Physics Education. The zine turns those findings into metaphor-rich scenes that reveal how systemic conditions shape the trajectories of women of color in STEM.

Across the zine, barriers in physics appear not as abstract concepts but as physical burdens: steep cliffs, blinding dust, heavy loads, and treacherous terrain. These metaphors make visible what participants described in their own narratives, the additional obstacles they faced, the limited access to institutional norms, the harm created by exclusionary cultures, and the moments of support that helped them endure or redirect their paths.

Research Background

The Double Bind in Physics Education (Harvard Education Press, 2023) follows ten women of color from undergraduate studies through the early stages of their careers. Through interviews with the women and with people in their academic and professional networks, the research reveals patterns of bias, isolation, invisibilization, and harassment that shaped their opportunities in physics. The women also described critical moments of support, self developed strategies, and community spaces that allowed them to continue, regroup, or reimagine their futures. The zine distills these research-based themes into an accessible medium, offering people a starting point for reflecting on the conditions that influence who thrives in physics.

Wang drew heavily on the research but also on her own experiences as a former lab and field scientist and facilitator of workshops on systems of oppression. “Reading Dr. Ong’s book, I was struck by how familiar many of the experiences of the women of color participants were to me,” she writes in the zine’s introduction. “I was also reminded how many workshop participants had never considered the harassment, additional emotional and physical labor, and invisiblization that marginalized people in the sciences experience. I hope this zine can be an engaging and accessible introduction to some of those experiences in hopes of educating readers on what needs to change...”

Zine Structure and Design

The zine is organized around several themes that emerged in Dr. Ong’s research. Each section:

names a specific theme,
provides a brief description,
shares one or more anecdotes from participants, and
depicts the experiences through visual metaphor.

Black-and-white illustrated zine two-page spread about lack of support, low expectations, and unspoken cultural norms in physics education, with cartoon examples showing students interacting with instructors and navigating confusing expectations. Obstacles appear as barriers along a path or heavy weights carried on participants’ backs; harmful cultural norms show up as restricted access to shortcuts or strong water currents; strategies and supports appear as helping hands, tools, or peer guides. Some sections include examples of counterspaces — academic or social safe spaces that allow students who are underrepresented in higher education to promote their learning, have their knowledge validated and viewed as valuable, vent frustrations, share stories of discrimination, and counteract many of the negative effects of exclusion perpetrated by majority peers and faculty (Solórzano et al., 2000).

Themes in the Zine

The illustrations and descriptions below represent only a sample of the challenges, forms of support, and strategies depicted within each theme.

Lack of Support and Low Expectations: PP. 10-15

Three black-and-white cartoon illustrations showing people using maps and navigating unfamiliar places. One person studies a map alone, another stands beside a bicycle talking with a second person, and a third person points to landmarks on a map while another looks on.

Participants faced low expectations, competition, cues of unbelonging, and unspoken cultural norms. The zine shows these as a map that does not mirror the terrain, students tripping each other to get to resources, and unnecessary training wheels, with peers offering support by helping remove the training wheels.

Test Anxiety and Stereotype Threat: PP. 16-19

Black-and-white cartoon scenes of people struggling through rain, water, and rough travel conditions with bicycle

Test anxiety and stereotype threat are depicted as walking under a rain cloud, illustrating how the fear of validating harmful stereotypes adds increased stress and anxiety to academic experiences.

Invisibilization: PP. 20-29

Black and white illustration of a cloud of dust obscuring a traveler

Experiences of being overlooked and ignored appear in the zine as a cloud of dust that obscures the traveler and makes the journey more difficult, with support shown as peers shining a light to cut through the dust and reveal them.

Harassment: PP. 30-36

Black and white illustrations of a person covered in dripping sludge representing identity-based harassment

Identity-based harassment is depicted as buckets of sludge dropped onto participants that they cannot easily shake off, showing how stepping away at times became an essential strategy for safety, recovery, and clearing the sludge.

Exclusionary Cultural Norms: PP. 36-43

Black and white illustration of a person paddling against a strong river current

Exclusionary cultural norms in physics are represented as a strong river current that demands conformity, contrasting with participants’ cultural values related to family, community, and seeing people as whole. This mismatch creates feelings of isolation and reveals how navigating or resisting these norms requires significant additional effort.

Making Their Own Paths: PP. 44-47

Black and white illustration of a person cutting a new path through dense reeds

Creating their own paths appears as cutting new trails, underscoring how self-determined routes can be both liberating and taxing.

Bringing the Zine into Educational Settings and Conversations

Because of its accessible visual storytelling, the zine can be used across a wide range of learning and community settings, from middle and high school classrooms to undergraduate and graduate courses, mentoring programs, professional learning for educators, and discussion groups exploring equity in
STEM. Its metaphors help readers of all ages grasp complex systems and empathize with experiences that may differ from their own, opening conversations about belonging, support, and systemic change.

As Dr. Ong notes, “This visual companion to the Double Bind in Physics Education offers another way into the work. It supports reflection and dialogue in STEM spaces and helps more people engage with the lived experiences at the heart of the research.”

Conclusion and Ways to Access the Zine

A Perilous Path Through Physics offers a compelling bridge between long-term qualitative research and visual storytelling. By illustrating obstacles, supports, and strategies along the journeys of women of color in physics, the zine invites readers to consider how systemic inequities shape learning and career pathways, and what forms of intervention can make those paths more equitable.

The zine is free to download and share, and physical copies are available for purchase. Readers seeking deeper engagement with the themes introduced are encouraged to explore The Double Bind in Physics Education.

Download at info.terc.edu/a-perilous-path- through-physics-zine