
Little girls asked me to wear something sparkly for a talk I gave at NASA - DoreenMichele
https://twitter.com/RitaJKing/status/1190448014852284416
======
fractallyte
Cute.

And now, a counter-question: Do little boys ever ask for anything sparkly? If
not, why not?

[https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190930-the-sexist-
myths...](https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190930-the-sexist-myths-about-
gender-stereotypes-that-wont-die)

~~~
DoreenMichele
We spend a lot of time debating things like if children are brainwashed and if
we should brainwash them in some other direction for their own good.

Maybe the girls who wrote the letter were brainwashed into thinking "sparkly
is girly and we must be girly first and foremost," but they _asked_ for
someone to help them believe that they didn't have to choose one or the other,
they could be both sparkly and scientists. And someone gave them what they
asked for, even though they were "just children" saying "Please inspire us in
this specific way so we can believe because we want to believe."

I was a girly girl who was also one of the top students of my graduating
class. I'm 54. I still feel like the world insists I choose: I can either be
"girly" in myriad ways _or_ I can be a serious intellectual. But I absolutely
can't be both.

I still feel poisoned by those messages, though less so than I used to be. So
I thought this was a delightful little thing that had happened somewhere on
planet Earth at some point.

I'm pleasantly surprised it's gotten any upvotes on HN. That also warms my
cold, dead heart slightly.

~~~
mikekchar
It always frustrates me that "girly" is considered bad in some way while
"manly" is considered good. It's truly unfortunate that there aren't "boyly"
and "womanly" adjectives.... We suffer from our sexist past by refusing to
allow that cute, sparkly, pink, whatever is absolutely wonderful. That more
girls prefer it than boys is... irrelevant, I think. Perhaps I'm missing an
important point, but if I am, I'm missing it by a country mile.

~~~
dTal
> It's truly unfortunate that there aren't "boyly" and "womanly" adjectives

...there are? "Boyish" and "ladylike" (or, indeed, "womanly") are the words
you're looking for.

------
option_greek
I don't get it. In what sense is she a 'scientist'

~~~
mathgladiator
Aren't we all scientists?

