As for Smart Girls at the Party, I don’t know how I would have felt as a young person watching these, but as a 30-something, I think they’re adorable and chuckle-worthy whether they inspire anyone to do anything or not.

Ruby

Chiral: it makes me sad that you want to leave your chosen field asap, but I understand the not-quite-fitting-in aspect of it all.

https://www.sallyridescience.com/

A big factor for women going into Science is having a supportive father. My dad understood my interest in astronomy and science and encouraged me to take relevant courses.

I don’t understand why, after all this time, it still is a radical idea that some young women want to go into science. Women flooded into law and medicine schools 30 years ago and constitute about 1/2 of these fields. Yet I’ve heard recent horror stories of disdainful treatment from professors and supervisors in “hard” sciences. There are still significant men in the field that believe you need testosterone to do science. (Think of Larry Summers; he’s not the only one.) Women in graduate school get shoved aside; major faculties are still female hostile. It seems to me that if you are teaching, you ought to be teaching everybody who pays the money.

The lack of female role models in STEM departments and the tolerance for regrettable treatment of women students is a disgrace.

As to the movie, I agree with Teshi, #19 and Cindy #31. I think seeing actual women scientists explain their work is better than a 12-year-old. The movie’s silly streak misses my sense of humor. But I think the effort may be of some value.

I have a friend who’s a doctor who does rounds in high heels and a dress. Frankly, it surprised me, but she said that it always helps her feel more professional — and that people take her more seriously. It’s kind of sad in a way, that she has to jam her feet into unhealthy shoes that are a fetish item, just so she can be taken seriously. But, nobody doubts her abilities…

In graduate school, when I was working in a lab doing research, I never ran much into attitudes that women couldn’t do it. We were all there to do a job. What I DID run into was the occasional archaic male who would loudly mouth off that HIS wife stayed home having babies, yadda yadda yadda. In his case, we knew he felt threatened by ANYBODY smarter than him, male or female, so he took it out on females. We ignored him and just did our work.

But, if I’d seen this movie as a young woman, I don’t know if it would have swayed me one way or the other, simply because I always knew what I wanted to do, and eventually I made it happen.

#44 Quiet Desperation: women have weapons… quiet, deadly and not what you expect. Beware.

Also, all this talk about “girly-girls” — it sends the wrong message to kids. Interests should not hinge on personality, you either are interested in something or you are not, to have to come across and say “well, I know someone who is feminine who likes science” is completely ridiculous because it is treating those two as mutually exclusive. The definition of a “girly girl” is very flexible. It’s strange how I’ve been referred to as very feminine by some because of my taste in clothing, only to be described as tough and masculine based on my vocal opinions. “Girly-girl” is a superficial label that needs to be destroyed.

It seems to me like Rachel is thinking, “these women are morons” during this interview and I have to say I kind of agree, though to be fair, I think misguided is probably the more appropriate word. Gender shouldn’t play a role in discussions like this, but unfortunately it does. What we need is open discussion involving ideas with people of both sexes. The ideas and interest are the important part, not the set of genitals you’re packing. As a teen girl, I was turned off by programs like this because it didn’t take my interests seriously. While I did not choose a career in the sciences, one of my biggest interests is education that incorporates knowledge of both the arts and sciences because let’s face it, science gets the short end of the stick because most elementary school teachers have an arts background.

We have to get them interested while they’re young if we’re going to encourage them when they’re older.

I have to add that I think those of you who suggested we treat this behaviour as normal have hit the nail on the head, there are few teens who want to be told they’re abnormal, even if it means they’re intelligent.

I prefer baby apes. Like the one that was actually shown. ;^}