Nature: Hey girl! Science wants YOU – but don’t forget the lipstick. Posted on behalf of Gozde Zorlu.
The European Commission’s new campaign to stimulate young women’s interest in a career in science has today been lambasted on blogs and social media sites for its patronizing tone. The Science: It’s a girl thing! Campaign (with the first letter ‘i’ helpfully substituted by a pink lipstick, in case you were in any doubt that it was aimed at women), launched in Brussels on 21 June. It aims to attract young women to scientific research careers to increase the total number of female researchers in Europe, part of a broader strategy across the European Union to increase the number of researchers by one million, as well as raising total research-and-development spending to 3% of GDP by 2020 (Washington Post). The first phase of the campaign — aimed at girls aged 13–17 years — includes a website and Facebook page.
GozdeZorlu : @ECspokesScience Hi Michae... ScientificAmerican: Science – It’s a Girl Thing (Insert Facepalm Here) ** Note: as of 2pm PST The European Commission took their video down (WIN for Ladies in Science!).
The video below is a copied file. This morning the interwebz have been all a flutter with the release of a ‘teaser’ video from the European Commission of Research and Innovation. The video is called ‘Science – It’s a Girl Thing’ and it depicts some model-esque females being checked out by a male scientist while strutting their catwalk walks and wearing rather risque clothing. There’s plenty of pink, there’s plenty of makeup, there’s plenty of sexual innuendo, and then at the end they all put on some safety goggles – because I guess this makes them scientists. No word on whether the divas depicted in the video are actually scientists – but my guess is a strong no. The video is getting negative feedback from females worldwide – with good reason. Telegraph: Science 'girl thing' video branded offensive. WP: E.U.’s ‘Science, it’s a girl thing’ campaign sparks a backlash - BlogPost.
Posted at 11:54 AM ET, 06/22/2012 Jun 22, 2012 03:54 PM EDT TheWashingtonPost With a kitschy new video, the European Commission hopes to assure girls in Europe that scientific professions are feminine and fun.
But while the message might have been admirable, some are cringing at the execution. The European Commission launched the “Science: it’s a girl thing” campaign Thursday with the goal of attracting more women to research professions. To kick off the initiative, they released a video that features young women strutting around a neon-colored laboratory wearing heels and mini-dresses, gasping as they examine atomic models and blowing kisses at test-tubes: “We want to overturn clichés and show women and girls, and boys too, that science is not about old men in white coats,” said Geoghegan-Quinn, the European Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner at the European Parliament in Brussels, according to a report by the New Statesman. WSJ: "Girls in Science" - The Juggle. It seems like the beginning of a porn movie.
This Is The Most Sexist 'Science Is For Girls' Ad We've Ever Seen. Forbes: Or, How the European Union Spends Taxpayer Money. Something that you might have been able to gather from recent news pieces is that the economy of the continent of Europe is falling apart.
Unemployment rates in both Greece and Spain are as bad or worse than anything that the United States had in the Great Depression for example. At least three EU governments are bankrupt and at least one more is thought to be heading that way. So it’s interesting to see what the European Commission the head, and coordinating, body of the whole enterprise thinks it is worth spending the taxpayers money upon. 'Science: It's A Girl Thing!' VIDEO By EU Commission Promotes STEM For Women, Sparks Outcry. What's the deal with women and STEM?
Though women fill close to half the jobs in the U.S. economy, they hold less than 25 percent of jobs in science, technology, engineering, and math. And why is that? A controversial new video released by the European Commission suggests that females give STEM the cold shoulder because they think that being a scientist, well, just isn't very sexy. Entitled "Science: It's A Girl Thing! ," the one-minute music video intermixes images of sexy babes in short skirts and stilettos with images from the world of science -- beakers, circuit boards, molecular models, and the like.
Technology - Megan Garber - We're Really Sorry, Marie Curie. There's only one word for the European Commission's attempt to attract women to careers in science: sorry.
From: Women, everywhere Subject: "Science: It's a Girl Thing! " Date: June 27, 2012 11:15 AM EDT To: Marie Curie, Ada Lovelace, Florence Nightingale, Rosalind Franklin, Jane Goodall, and millions more ... @megangarber. Girls would love science, if it was more like Katy Perry. This is what a colossally misguided stab at empowerment looks like.
In an attempt to persuade girls to pursue educations and careers in science, the European Commission this week decided to trick ladies’ fluffy little brains into believing that stuff like astrophysics and nanotechnology are like, the funnest. Yes, do go on about how glamorous and pretty science is, because if chicks can’t equate veterinary virology with dresses and manicures, they’re just not going for it. Perhaps the most positive thing about the campaign so far has been the swift and vocal outcry against it. The yay-science! Clip features a trio of high-heeled, miniskirted sirens against a pink backdrop, smiling and laughing and tilting their heads adorably to images of test tubes and makeup brushes. "Science, it's a girl thing!" says EU Commission, holding lipstick and bunsen burner. Science, it's a girl thing!
Photograph: Getty Images Three women march towards the camera, immaculate in high heels and mini dresses. They pause to smoulder in an end-of-the-catwalk way at a man in a lab coat, who looks up from his microscope (startled? Science a girl thing: Kritik am Video der EU-Kommission. StuttgarterZeitung: Video zurückge- zogen: I’m too sexy for EU - Politik. Brüssel - Mädchenförderung ist ein heikles Thema, wie die Geschichte der am Donnerstag gestarteten EU-Kampagne „Science: It’s a girl thing“ (etwa: „Wissenschaft ist Mädchensache“) zeigt.
Die EU-Verwalter aus der Generaldirektion Forschung und Innovation haben der in Brüssel ansässigen Agentur Emakina ein höchst umstrittenes Video abgekauft. Der Preis: 102.000 Euro. Das ist ziemlich viel Geld, wenn man bedenkt, dass das Video nur wenige Tage online war. Die Generaldirektion zog es nach heftiger Kritik im Netz und in den Medien zurück. Auf der Kampagnen-Seite ist es nicht mehr zu finden, wohl aber im Google Cache. „Voller herablassender Klischees“ Mit ihrer Kampagne will die EU-Kommission „Vorurteile zur Wissenschaft bekämpfen und Mädchen zeigen, dass Wissenschaft für sie eine große Zukunftschance sein kann“, wie es auf der (englischsprachigen) Facebook-Seite der Kampagne heißt.
Ingénieures, pas call girls. Communication de crise : les réactions de la Commission européenne face à la polémique contre une vidéo sexiste. Réagir ou pas ? Comment et sur quel terrain ? ElMundo: Las redes, contra el vídeo de #CientíficasConTacones de la UE por 'machista' "La UE insulta a la mujer en una campaña infame". "La UE quiere. #CientificasConTacones pero no se le ocurre ningún trabajo que puedan hacer". "Supongo que la intención era buena, pero se han gastado el dinero en hacer daño a la Ciencia".