My initial reaction to the video turned my enthusiastic smile into to a frown within 30 seconds. Really?  Young women wearing capes, over sized tortoise shell eyeglasses, and very high heels running down hallways reminds me of a comic book.

Who is this message for? (and bookmark this question, because I’ll be asking other STEM outreach efforts this same question in upcoming posts).

THEIR MISSION

We want to encourage other girls to change their world through Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, while embracing their feminine power

For girls and young women obviously but what type of young women?  The reference to embracing feminine power gives me a big clue.  The femininity they promote is a very conventional, even sexualized femininity.  And as I watched the video, I really felt like this campaign is not for young women like me: the not so girly-girl types.  So, if I were young enough to audition I wouldn’t.  To me, it is abundantly clear that Nerd Girls is an outreach program for the ‘beautiful ones’ - the charming pretty girls who are prom queens who might hide their smarts. And you know what? Those girls probably do need role models just like the ones Nerd Girls provides.

But that still doesn’t make me like this program anymore. It sells a trite uni-dimensional version of feminine that automatically eliminates all 'others'. I was turned completely off by it. And yes, I'm responding in a very personal matter.

This is me on a good but average day.

I’m no girly-girl. Some might describe me as a plain jane or even tom-boyish – mainly due to my preference for jeans or shorts, cotton tees, I love being outdoors, and getting dirty. Don’t get me wrong. I clean up nicely, very nicely for the right occasion.

I guess this could be my Nerd Girls get-up.

But I’m not rocking high-heels and short skirts and sporting eye make-up on the average day.  That’s not me.

And in science, there is a mix of us – uber fems, plain janes, and tom boys; To be a fair feminist science scholar you recognize and embrace the whole continuum of feminine presence, not just the Barbie Doll version of it. That’s why I have a problem with this program; and I'm not the only one my Science Blogging BFF Oyster's Garter agrees.

Conceptually it is a great idea; however, please, don’t pass off this outreach effort for ALL girls/women. Why? Because off the wham I thought it was clear that “The not-so-popular girl, the cute but chubby girl, or even the smart but pimply faced girl - you know – the types of girls who most expect already do well in science and math and proud of their academic prowess” need not apply to be a Nerd Girl.