Professor of Indefinite Studies
Is this tree.
There’s quite a bit of discussion on the Legos for girls I mentioned earlier.
Best bits I’ve seen:
This 1981 ad for Legos. Based on one data point, we’ve come a long way… backward.
And this article by Tansy Rayner Roberts, with my favorite quote on the topic: “Our girls should have toy options other than ‘everything is pink’ and ‘all the characters are boys.'”
You know, like they did in 1981.
Things I never learned in grad school:
Girl science is pink, and involves perfume, beauty products, soap, snowflakes, and “Beautiful Blob Slime.” (Please note: I did not make up that last.)
Boy science is blue, spooky and perilous, has physics and chemistry, and “Weird Slime Lab.”
There’s also cosmetic science, which is purple and involves cleaning products.
I’m all for encouraging girls to learn that science is fascinating and fun, especially by showing them that they can make fun things that they’re interested in. But really: gender-themed kits that only use scary words like “chemistry” and “physics” for explicitly male kits?
