Attention, Solfy! YOU ARE SCIENCING WRONG!

[The Superhero]

Because, you see, if girls are to do science, it must be pink science. And have to do with makeup and perfume and other girly crap.

http://www.wildscience.net/girls.html

If you are to insist on continuing with this "science" nonsense of yours, please do it in the proper girly fashion forthwith.

Thank you for your attention.

[Zeener Diode]

It's Science Girls Gone Wild!

I can't wait for the Spring Break edition!

[Islander]

PINK science? Scared of it.

Solfy, please disregard and dismiss him with utmost contempt.

[Zeener Diode]

Originally Posted by Islander

PINK science? Scared of it.

Ohh, PINK. As in, Personal Investigations Negate Kooks.

[bufftabby]

I think Solfy could do some pink science just fine indeed.

[KidVermicious]

Frilly stuff. I wanna see Solfy wear frilly stuff when she sciences.

[Salambo]

Solfy can do any science she wants! Pink science, orange science, blue science, eggshell science, olive science, stripey science, weird science, blinding science...

[Chacoguy]

I always picture Solfy like this.

[Lungfish]

The odds are that Solfy look more like this rather than the image that Chacoguy linked to. Pretty scientist women only exist in tv and film.

[Sleeps With Butterflies]

Originally Posted by Lungfish

The odds are that Solfy look more like this rather than the image that Chacoguy linked to. Pretty scientist women only exist in tv and film.

Actually IMHO Solfy is prettier than that hard looking redhead that he (and so many others) seem to think is good looking. To each their own and all that but I think that woman usually looks like she was rode hard and put away wet

[Zeener Diode]

♫ Weird Science! ♪
Not what teacher said to do...

[Salambo]

Solfy has posted to picture threads. She is, no joke, a total hottie scientist. It's rare, but they exist, and she's ONE OF THEM.

And she's blonde!

[Chacoguy]

True Dat!

[Salambo]

Also, there's nothing wrong with the color pink or being girly, regardless if science is involved.

[Uthrecht]

My daughter's first telescope choice was this.

[Xploder]

ahem

[stormie]

Hey, if pink gets girls into science, then yay pink.

It's the red I am concerned about. The red blood splashes on Solfy's glad rags when she finishes with one or two of you. Oh well, you were pains in the ass anyway.

[Solfy]

Is purple girly enough? I spent the better part of a year working on a very pain-in-the-ass purple.

Gotta agree with Stormie - if "pink" is what's necessary to get girls in the lab, I'm all for it. Now if they feel that they are limited to pink, that's when I get all growly.

Only slightly pointless digression:
or
How Solfy ended up in a lab:
In high school I wanted to be a professional musician but I knew I didn't have the chops. Dad said, "Be an engineer!" because he's smart like that. Mechanical, civil, and electrical engineering didn't do it for me, but chemical engineering sounded interesting. While I was enrolled in HS organic/bio chem, I went to the mall one day and bought makeup. I was looking at the ingredients list on the back of the makeup, and realized that not only could I pronounce all those funny words, I could draw their structures. That was my lightbulb moment - the realization that chemistry isn't just a bunch of smelly stuff and molecular orbitals and oxidation numbers. Chemistry is what made my makeup work. Chemistry is what made my deodorant work. Chemistry is what made my hairspray (shutup, it was the 90's) work. Chemistry is everything, man. And if I learned how to manipulate it, I could control the world! MWUHAHAHAHAHA!

Or at least make better eyeshadow.

I went on a job shadow with a chem engineer and decided that I like the lab end better than the plant end. (ironically I wound up working smack dab between the two; and no one makes eyeshadow in Pittsburgh)

So if mixing lip balm lights some tweener up and makes them realize that chemistry isn't just for boys, I'm all for it. When I was a kid I wanted one of those "build random electronics" kits but was afraid to ask for one because they were "for boys." Which is stupid - my parents never limited me to girly stuff. Messages from society are strong, though, and they start early.

As for what I look like in the lab, the reality lies somewhere between the two poles, as reality often does. (caveat - that's an old pic. Hair is shorter, and I have new lab glasses that are funky tortoise shell)

[timbicile]

You rule. All of my experiments involve alcohol and decreasing brain cells.

[KidVermicious]

Originally Posted by Solfy

As for what I look like in the lab,

*swoons*

[stormie]

Originally Posted by Solfy

As for what I look like in the lab, the reality lies somewhere between the two poles, as reality often does.

hubba

[Salambo]

Toldja. Hot.

[Zombies!]

MY SOLFY!

MINE!

GRRRRRR

Damn but she is hawt, amirite?

[Wolf Larsen]

Originally Posted by Lungfish

The odds are that Solfy look more like this rather than the image that Chacoguy linked to. Pretty scientist women only exist in tv and film.

Solfy's pretty hot.

[mnemosyne]

Originally Posted by Solfy

As for what I look like in the lab, the reality lies somewhere between the two poles, as reality often does. (caveat - that's an old pic. Hair is shorter, and I have new lab glasses that are funky tortoise shell)

If I didn't know otherwise, I'd ask if you worked for the company I worked at in Toronto! That lab looks just like the one I was in; fume hood model, drawer design, paint colours and the angle of the hood next to that counter... it's kind of creepy. The only other tip-off if your labcoat colour; we had to wear white. Weird flashback!




As for pink science...I've worked on various pills that were pink. Also, phenolphthalein.

[Swivels]

Some tissue culture media can be somewhat pink, though that generally means the pH is too basic (typically the dregs of an open bottle that's been in the fridge a bit too long) and the cells won't be happy if I use it.

[Solfy]

Originally Posted by mnemosyne

If I didn't know otherwise, I'd ask if you worked for the company I worked at in Toronto! That lab looks just like the one I was in; fume hood model, drawer design, paint colours and the angle of the hood next to that counter... it's kind of creepy. The only other tip-off if your labcoat colour; we had to wear white. Weird flashback!

I suspect that most labs look the same, which is to say "nothing like any lab ever seen on television." This building is vintage 60's, which means it's spacious and full of natural light, two attributes you'd never find most newer industrial buildings.
The labcoats absofuckinglutely suck, but I've bitched about that elsewhere.

[mnemosyne]

The "new" lab at the same company was much more modern and although they kept the yellow drawers, the walls were grey. The next two companies that I know of had one lab in pale green, another in a godawful pinkish-purple colour with grey walls and a third was alll in blue, with different fume hood doors. Though the company with the "same" lab as yours was probably built around the same era. It's the positioning of the hood relative to the counter that really stands out to me as being the "same" - for a time, "my" hood was like that and I kept getting in trouble for sitting on the counter while I waited for timed reactions/stirring or whatever to occur!

[Solfy]

Originally Posted by mnemosyne

"my" hood was like that and I kept getting in trouble for sitting on the counter while I waited for timed reactions/stirring or whatever to occur!

I sit on the bench opposite the fume hood and watch columns drip. I don't get in trouble, but people look at me funny. (there are windows from the lab into the hallway; makes me feel like I'm in a zoo sometimes)

[Giraffe]

The OP is an offensive example of gender stereotyping that is rampant within the sciences. Male scientists like myself shouldn't be made to feel effeminate just because their aesthetic preferences happen to strongly resemble the kits in that link. Or because we're in touch enough with our feelings to cry all the time.

[Solfy]

Originally Posted by Giraffe

Or because we're in touch enough with our feelings to cry all the time.

You should get your fume hood checked.

[jali]

Originally Posted by Giraffe

The OP is an offensive example of gender stereotyping that is rampant within the sciences. Male scientists like myself shouldn't be made to feel effeminate just because their aesthetic preferences happen to strongly resemble the kits in that link. Or because we're in touch enough with our feelings to cry all the time.

Psst.

NO! Not you tall one, everyone else.
:: whispers::
Let's have a collection to get the Giraffe one of the purty pink sets. His feminine side will be so happy.

[Giraffe]

Originally Posted by Solfy

You should get your fume hood checked.

That link had better not be about getting regular pap smears...

[Uthrecht]

It really is good advice.

[The Superhero]

Originally Posted by Giraffe

The OP is an offensive example of gender stereotyping that is rampant within the sciences. Male scientists like myself shouldn't be made to feel effeminate just because their aesthetic preferences happen to strongly resemble the kits in that link. Or because we're in touch enough with our feelings to cry all the time.

Hey, nobody's saying you're less of a man because you like girl science better than real science.

It's just strongly implied.

[Sleeps With Butterflies]

Originally Posted by Giraffe

The OP is an offensive example of gender stereotyping that is rampant within the sciences. Male scientists like myself shouldn't be made to feel effeminate just because their aesthetic preferences happen to strongly resemble the kits in that link. Or because we're in touch enough with our feelings to cry all the time.

Nit pick: Putting beakers and test tubes in your butt while wearing a white coat on a webcam does NOT make you a scientist any more than what you did to that poor parrot makes you a pirate!

[Scuba Ben]

Originally Posted by Sleeps With Butterflies

Nit pick: Putting beakers and test tubes in your butt while wearing a white coat on a webcam does NOT make you a scientist any more than what you did to that poor parrot makes you a pirate!

I think we're better off avoiding discussions of what Giraffe did to that parrot. There are some things that even pirates avoid.

[mlerose]

Originally Posted by The Superhero

Hey, nobody's saying you're less of a man because you like girl science better than real science.

It's just strongly implied.

Originally Posted by Sleeps With Butterflies

Nit pick: Putting beakers and test tubes in your butt while wearing a white coat on a webcam does NOT make you a scientist any more than what you did to that poor parrot makes you a pirate!

If this ^ is girl science, count me out.

[Pee-raffe]

I peed on a pH strip and it was hot pink.

[Salambo]

Originally Posted by Sleeps With Butterflies

Nit pick: Putting beakers and test tubes in your butt while wearing a white coat on a webcam does NOT make you a scientist any more than what you did to that poor parrot makes you a pirate!

I'm still mad about that.

[The Futility of Nihilism]

That poor parrot.

[Giraffe]

Originally Posted by The Futility of Nihilism

That poor parrot.

All I did was put a little lipstick on it. And some mascara. And a tutu.

That's what pirates do!!

[Chacoguy]

Originally Posted by Giraffe

All I did was put a little lipstick on it.

It looked like the Joker!

[Scuba Ben]

Originally Posted by Chacoguy

It looked like the Joker!

And not the Cesar Romero version.

[Solfy]

I suppose next you're going to claim that you had no knowledge beforehand that lipstick is toxic to parrots.

[Doc Cathode]

Originally Posted by Sleeps With Butterflies

Nit pick: Putting beakers and test tubes in your butt while wearing a white coat on a webcam does NOT make you a scientist any more than what you did to that poor parrot makes you a pirate!

Thank you, I needed a good laugh.

Solfy Lipstick is toxic to parrots? I wasn't planning on giving any avians make overs, but that's good to know.

[Solfy]

It's a new urban legend I'm starting.

[The Superhero]

In case anyone cares, I think this here is a pretty good summation of just what I think is so wretched about the stuff in the link in the OP.



Also, Giraffe fails to conform to societal norms in bizarre and often disgusting ways! HA-ha!

[Solfy]

Interesting article, though I don't entirely agree with it.
Particularly this assertion:

Here, the folks marketing science kits for girls are making the assumption that all girls are the same.

That's like saying that people who make baby dolls assume girls are all the same, or people who make Hello Kitty branded products are all the same. The existence of girl-themed science kits doesn't preclude girls from using gender-neutral kits any more than the existence of Barbie dolls keep girls from playing with Matchbox cars. (she says, as her 5yr daughter old drives cars around the kitchen)

Girls are going to use what they're interested in. Some of them will gravitate toward the "girl" targeted stuff because they've already been socialized to like that stuff, or because they genuinely do like the stuff. I don't see the girl science sets pigeon-holing them, but giving them the opportunity to connect "science" with "stuff they already like and use." The kits don't limit science to acceptable femininity, but illuminate the science inherent in all things, acceptably feminine things included.

[Caerie]

If ladies aren't doing pink lady science, who will invent the pink lady laxatives?