For a long time we've known that girls are still behind boys when it comes to math and science -- particularly the physical sciences. Now the AAUW (formerly the American Association of University Women) has released a comprehensive new report that documents this problem, "Why So Few."
TrueChild was invited to be part of the news conference: you can view it here, and also download a copy of the report.
The direction of the findings has been pretty clear for some time. Girls can and do perform as well as boys in math and science early on. But once they hit grades 5-9, right around adolescence, there's a noticeable drop-off in interest in science, technology, engineering and match (so-called "STEM"). They do a lot less outside of school too -- playing with chemistry sets or joining groups that engage with science.
By the time kids can exercise choice over what courses they take -- the last years of high school through the end of college -- there's a marked drop in participation as well.
Women are doing better in "helping sciences" like biology, but even in newer fields like computers, they make up a fraction of the students and often perform noticeably worse.
This phenomenon of fewer and fewer girls left in the field is so common it's even got a name: "the leaky pipeline."
What's interesting is that although we've looked long and hard at external barriers -- unfriendly classroom environments, lack of adult role models, parents who think science isn't or girls -- we haven't looked at all at internalized feminine norms. Which -- given that all this starts just when girls hit puberty -- would seem to be a prime candidate.
That's why TrueChild has just submitted its first grants to study the effects of internalized norms on girls and STEM. We think that as they enter puberty, girls have to make a choice between opting out of femininity and opting out of STEM. In fact, that's just the way Dr. Janet Stemwedel, who blogs about girls and science, put it in her post here.
We think we have a pretty strong case to make, and this is exciting – and pretty untouched – area of inquiry.
The big national coalitions that support equity in STEM, like the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) and the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP), think so too, and they've signed on as partners in this project. So have many of the top researchers in the field.
In the meantime, here are some hints to help you keep your daughter interested in math and science, or help your son realize STEM is also a "girls' thing."
According to the New York Times, Axe grooming products -- deodorants, shampoos, hair gel, and that infamous body spray -- are becoming the "in thing" among tween and pre-teen boys. Along with macho-branded Old Spice Swagger, and "Magnetic Attraction Enhancing Body Wash by Dial," they have become staples of many boys' bedrooms, bathrooms, and backpacks. As one 11-year-old said, "I feel confident when I wear Axe."
So just how has Axe managed to reshape tween boyhood in its sci-fi-stylized bottles' image? It's not just the product, obviously. It's a pop culture that unanimously depicts desirable males as muscular, hunky, confident. (See here and here for research on this.) Simple manhood is no longer enough. Products like Axe let boys -- who are increasingly anxious about projecting masculinity in a competitive environment -- feel confident.
It doesn't help that tween boys are stuck in an awkward stage: girls are on their way out of puberty while they're just entering it, leaving them ungainly, awkward, and still trying to master masculinity at a time when girls are into makeup, hair gels and body waxes and wondering why their too-slow boyfriends don't just get with it when it comes to cosmetic products.
So in the arms race to be seen as cool, masculine, older and attractive to girls, boys are looking anxiously for help, and cosmetics marketers are happy to oblige, often with tongue-in-cheek commercials that promise masculinity by also making too-cool fun of it. If the signifiers of pop-culture masculinity -- muscular body, sexual conquests, high-powered job -- aren't readily available to 12-year-olds in the Gender Product Wars, at least they can buy something that puts a little more spring in their step -- while covering up the smell of skipping shower after gym class.
Groundspark (formerly Women's Educational Media) has come out with a powerful new educational documentary, Straightlaced: How Gender's Got Us All Tied Up. (Full disclosure: we had the opportunity to give feedback on parts of the early version of the film.)
As with their other documentaries (It's Elementary and That's a Family), Straightlaced mainly features kids, alone, talking directly to the camera without prompting and telling their stories in their own, sometimes eloquent, sometimes halting, words.
And what stories they are:
There are dozens of these stories. After awhile, you get a real feel for these kids. You start to see beyond who's gay and who's straight, who's of color and who's white, and you start to see how the gender system affects each and every one of them, in their most intimate decisions, every school day. That's probably Groundspark's intent.
Many of us have observed how when kids finish puberty, learning, conforming to and policing pretty rigid gender role expectations for masculinity and femininity can suddenly seem like the most important thing in the world. Researchers have dubbed this common phenomenon "gender intensification," and it's certainly on high display in this firm. More than a few of these teens talk about their fear of harassment, ostracism, ridicule or even attack.
High school is like a pressure cooker when it comes to fulfilling gender roles. Straightlaced may be the first film to document what life is really like for teens who try to live up to masculine and feminine ideals, want to live up to them, or sometimes simply refuse them altogether. Check out the YouTube trailer here, or embedded below.
It's not all Disney, of course, but it mostly is. Their princess line -- which can now outfit your daughter head to toe and every single item in her bedroom -- comprises over 2,000 items and is a billion-dollar business. According to the backstory Disney puts out on it they launched it without market testing and was so wildly popular it just took off.
Perhaps that means that these white-bread, cookie-cutter, 18-inch-waisted femmes call out to something biologically inbred in many daughters that cannot be denied. That's Disney's line, anyway.
But I think three points are important here.
First, even if it's true, it's not true of all girls. These things ways sort out on a bell curve, and there are plenty of daughters who would respond to or even prefer assertive and active images of female power.
These are the girls who have made Dora the Explorer a runaway hit in two languages, and they are legion. Yet the industry continues to ignore Dora's success, and treat it as an anomaly.
Aside: The prevailing wisdom is also that boys won't watch girls' shows. Which is why all the TV shows and movies for kids feature male leads. Yet Dora proves the rule is wrong again: her audience is evenly split between boys and girls. Apparently boys don't mind watching girls at all, as long as they're active, assertive girls in action.
Second, there are many girls out there who simply tomboys, or gay. For them, the princess plague is a double whammy. They are not only bombarded with the passive, pink princesses, but they don't see themselves represented anywhere.
What is it like to watch show after show and movie after movie and never, ever see a single girl who looks like you or reminds you of yourself? To see girl after girl who is a success! who wins! not because of anything she does, but because she can attract a boy to rescue her. It must be painful, off-putting, isolating.
For that matter, what is it like for the chubby girls, or the girls who are -- in the old verbiage -- "plain," who have to see being a real girl equated with wasp-waisted femininity, beauty and the attention of boys.
The problem is, media companies like Disney imagine themselves in the entertainment business. But for little kids, they're now also in the education business.
Kids spend more time today with media than in a classroom or with their parents. And it's increasingly a key source -- not just for entertainment, as it was when I was growing up -- but for socialization.
I was lucky if my family went to the movies once every month or so, and I got to watch cartoon shows when they were on -- weekend mornings.
My daughter can watch movies whenever she wants on HBO Family, and there are at least six cable channels devoted to showing kids' TV 24 hours a day. We try to minimize it, but it does sneak in. And many of the shows are appalling. I grew up on Disney (Mickey Mouse Club with Annette and Jimmy, anyone?) and it saddens me that there are shows on the Disney channel I literally have to lock out.
And it's not just daughters. The whole princess thing isn't lost on boys either. They may not buy it, but they're certainly aware of it. They're learning what kind of girls are considered attractive, and which ones are really feminine and which not. Is it any wonder that over two-thirds of girls are already worried about their weight -- or actively dieting -- by the time they're in third grade?
So write Disney. Tell them Walt wouldn't approve. You can email them using the form at http://sdsmail.org.Teach your daughter some "gender literacy." Here are a couple of great links:
I can assure you Ralph Lauren is not doing this because it loses them money. They are doing it because they tested it and it works.
Parents are rightly concerned about "too sexy too soon" Halloween costumes for little girls, but does anyone ask, "What about the boys?" The search for boys' costumes can be treacherous too and just as filled with over-hyped and stereotyped "choices." These healthy ideas from Drs. Lyn Mikel Brown, Sharon Lamb, and Mark Tappan (authors of Packaging Boyhood: Saving Our Sons from Superheroes, Slackers, and Other Marketing Stereotypes, out now from St. Martin's Press) and fatherhood expert The Dad Man, Joe Kelly, can help parents fight back.
1. Help him think outside the scary ninja, fighter, superhero box that equates being a boy with full-throttle, over-the-top aggression. Imagination and creativity help boys break out of gender stereotypes, increase their resiliency, and provide great practice for reality.2. Encourage him to be anyone or anything for Halloween--and the rest of his life. Help him to be inspired by real men doing fun, clever, cool things that go beyond showboating, super powers, wielding big weapons, or seeking revenge.3. Listen to his ideas and encourage all the possibilities. Don’t assume he buys into the message that he must be some version of Super Scary Special Forces Ninja Bounty Hunter Fighter World Saving Man. Let his costume choice surprise you!4. Discuss and work on Halloween costumes together. It's a great learning and bonding experience. Hey, boys enjoy a little sewing, too. Help him recall the best costumes he ever saw, and share some favorites from your childhood.5. Add his own twist to action and adventure, and have his character do something other than control, dominate, look tough, and fight. Help him imagine an action hero who plays the ukelele, scales mountains, sings, or goes on eco-adventures. 6. Sit down and let your son create his own character and story. He can raid the family closets or dress up box to become the wildest, funniest, or coolest character ever! And he can keep using homemade costumes to play the part of great characters all winter long.7. Tap his love for scary stories and the history of Halloween; help him go "traditional" and be Frankenstein, a ghost, or a skeleton. Avoid those pumped up costumes with the fake muscles sewn in. Use your own imagination and create a fun backstory to go with the scary, ugly, and awful look.8. Draw on his favorite book or character. Reread the book with him to plan what he'll need to Clancy of Clancy The Courageous Cow, Ron or Hagrid from the Harry Potter adventures, or Bilbo Baggins. 9. Is your son an athlete, a history buff, into science or music? Halloween is a chance to act out the activities he loves. The list is endless. He could be Jackie Robinson, Joshua Chamberlain, Albert Einstein, Albert Pujols, or Bono. And don't rule out famous women--remember, it's about what he loves to DO. His Jane Goodall can carry a stuffed gorilla; his Van Gogh can wear a bandage on his ear. Once you start brainstorming, ideas will flood in.10. Halloween is all about being what you aren't for a night. Help him try on new roles and be whatever wild and crazy identity captivates him in the moment. Teach him that it's false advertising when stores label police officer, marine, and firefighter costumes as "for boys" or cats, colorful butterflies, singers, and dancers "for girls." Halloween is a day of imagination--a perfect opportunity to show him that he can be anyone and anything! Take this opportunity to widen his world when all those marketers out there are pressing him to narrow it.
6. Sit down and let your son create his own character and story. He can raid the family closets or dress up box to become the wildest, funniest, or coolest character ever! And he can keep using homemade costumes to play the part of great characters all winter long.7. Tap his love for scary stories and the history of Halloween; help him go "traditional" and be Frankenstein, a ghost, or a skeleton. Avoid those pumped up costumes with the fake muscles sewn in. Use your own imagination and create a fun backstory to go with the scary, ugly, and awful look.8. Draw on his favorite book or character. Reread the book with him to plan what he'll need to Clancy of Clancy The Courageous Cow, Ron or Hagrid from the Harry Potter adventures, or Bilbo Baggins.
Pole-Dancing Doll
Well, at least she's wearing some clothes. Were the marketers missing the resonances here -- or just hedging their bets against the outrage. Either way, it's a very uncomfortable image. Chris Rock says his main job as a father is "keepin' my baby Off The Pole." Well, his job just got a little harder. This is kind of the flip side of the Breastfeeding Doll.
Jeffrey Zaslow of the Wall Street Journal interviewed 4th graders from Illinois in 1986 and again as adults over 20 years later about dieting and eating habits. He found that the diet and thin trend is worse now than it was back then, and how being thin and dieting can lead to negative self esteem issues for young girls. http://tinyurl.com/mun3ct
A new African-American "Cuddly Doll" has been pulled off Costco shelves after people complained that it was wearing a hat named "Lil Monkey." References to apes and monkeys as racist and demeaning epithets for Black people goes back at least two hundred years, so you have to wonder who was sitting in on the marketing meetings and said, "Yeah, this is a great idea. Little girls will love it." My guess is it wasn't a person of color! Here it is with a close-up picture. http://www.inquisitr.com/33078/lil-monkey-doll-pulled-from-costco-shelves-for-obvious-reasons/
Kay Steiger blogs about Technorati's recent study of bloggers based on gender, age, and income among other things. 34% of women blog compared to 66% of men. Both female and male bloggers also tend to be older with only 9% of active female bloggers between the ages of 18 and 24. Which begs the question: are men more opinionated than women? http://tinyurl.com/qpflck
Every fourth item she sees in stories for her own 2-year-old daughter has "Little Princess" on it, notes Jean Twenge at San Diego State University. But this may no longer harbingers a cute Cinderella-type trend that tops out once girls reach their tweens.
Lifelong princess-hood goes beyond parents making their little girls feel loved and secure to feeling privileged and entitled and the center of the known universe.
According to Twenge, college women are developing narcissistic traits at four times the rate of college men. This is not a great trend.
"Special" can be good. Passively waiting for your prince, obsessing about a mate who will rescue you from boredom and make your life worth living again, having no career aspirations beyond settling down happily ever after in Wonder-Wonder land, and understanding yourself as a bauble to be presented and admired -- for your demureness, vulnerability, thin-ness and beauty -- is not.
But girls face enough free-floating discrimination growing up, and nearly anything that can help armor them against that can be a good thing. Princess-hood can have its upside.
But there's a fine line between feeling special and loved, and so entitled the sun rises and sets on you. The princess thing was not intended to be a lifestyle choice for adult women. This new report says it might be on its way to becoming one.
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