European commission, I am disappoint.

Ok, it's not what I meant to post next, but I just stumbled upon this thing, from the distant, unenlightened days of earlier this year:

What?
Ok, let me see if I got the message right. Science is a girl thing, like looking hot, being fashionable, and posing as though you're selling a product? Well, considering that I (or, getting the target age group, my daughters) have little interest in those things for their own sake, the take away is something like: "science is something you feel obligated to waste time on in order to avoid ridicule". Great selling point.

Sure, the "girls are just innately into fashion/love shoes/are vain" thing is everywhere, but it's especially obnoxious when passed off as feminism. "Girls are socialized to worry about their appearance excessively" is kind of 101 stuff, right? I admit, looking at fashion blogs or window shopping can sometimes be a relaxing way to procrastinate. I like looking at pretty things, and some clothes are pretty (as are some plants, trees, artwork, buildings, etc.) but it really doesn't go any deeper than that. An interest in fashion can be an interest in art and design, but it's a pursuit women are specifically channeled into whether they enjoy it or not. Associating it with science is just stupid.

What I would prefer to see is a video of some actual female scientists showing off some of their more exciting work, without anyone beating the viewer over the head with the fact that they're female.  My hypothesis (based on over 30 years experience as a girl) is that girls are more than capable of finding science interesting in its own right. I'd say what's actually needed is the reassurance that getting through college and grad school, and having a career, doesn't mean fighting their way through a wall of mansplaining manflesh (although such reassurance isn't exactly honest). If anything, videos like this make matters worse, portraying the female scientist as a strange new creature rather than simply a scientist and implying that the important thing, even in science, is a woman's physical appearance rather than her work. And guess what? I may be right.

But all of this is quite obvious, isn't it? This video would have been controversial when I was a kid. I think I'll just tell myself it's a delightfully ironic July fools joke. Keeps me happier.