MetaFilter posts tagged with girls

Pantone pink No. 241 corona

mippy — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:52:13 -0800

As parents scramble to get one of the 25,000 items in the Disney Princess range, this article, What's Wrong with Cinderella?, gives perspective from a mother and feminist. (Yes, I realise this article isn't new, but I came across it when doing research for work, and found it interesting indeed. Especially learning that Tinker Bell was dropped from the princess canon...)

Marching through the claims like Sherman through Georgia

cashman — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:30:09 -0800

Neuroscientist Lise Eliot finds that claims of sex differences fall apart. In one study, scientists dressed newborns in gender-neutral clothes and misled adults about their sex. The adults described the "boys" (actually girls) as angry or distressed more often than did adults who thought they were observing girls, and described the "girls" (actually boys) as happy and socially engaged more than adults who knew the babies were boys. Dozens of such disguised-gender experiments have shown that adults perceive baby boys and girls differently, seeing identical behavior through a gender-tinted lens. "Eliot immersed herself in hundreds of scientific papers (her bibliography runs 46 pages). Marching through the claims like Sherman through Georgia, she explains that assertions of innate sex differences in the brain are either "blatantly false," "cherry-picked from single studies," or "extrapolated from rodent research" without being confirmed in people. For instance, the idea that the band of fibers connecting the right and left brain is larger in women, supposedly supporting their more "holistic" thinking, is based on a single 1982 study of only 14 brains. Fifty other studies, taken together, found no such sex difference—not in adults, not in newborns. Other baseless claims: that women are hard-wired to read faces and tone of voice, to defuse conflict, and to form deep friendships; and that "girls' brains are wired for communication and boys' for aggression." Eliot's inescapable conclusion: there is "little solid evidence of sex differences in children's brains.""

The Boys Club

hippybear — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:50:50 -0800

Pixar has released ten feature films thus far, and none of them have had a female main character. This has not gone unnoticed. In fact, it has been the subject of commentary for years. But when Linda Holmes at NPR weighs in on the subject (with thoughtful comments), some of the counter-blogs get downright nasty.

You do science like a boy

Brandon Blatcher — Wed, 20 May 2009 11:39:39 -0800

The ~~kids~~ girls are alright.

Dora Grows Up.

lunit — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 09:18:43 -0800

Dora Grows Up. Nickelodeon and Mattel have introduced a whole new look for beloved cartoon Dora the Explorer. But the new look has people asking, Is Dora too sexy? Nick and Mattel try to smooth things over.

Momma Mia, Ragazze in Vespa! (Girls on Vespas!)

snsranch — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:38:23 -0800

Enjoy a couple of old (youtube) Vespa commercials and some BONUS CHEESECAKE; Girls On Vespas (flickr).

Beware the pink aisle

Artw — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:44:37 -0800

Do girls toys and boys toys lead to a gender gap?

Pretty girls are like cars that need a lot of oil.

WCityMike — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:37:41 -0800

"Pretty girls are like cars that need a lot of oil." Alex Graven, 9, has had How to Talk to Girls, the runaway hit of the Soaring Hawk Elementary School book fair, picked up by HarperCollins. How do you spot these oil-guzzling cars? ""It is easy to spot pretty girls," Alex writes, "because they have big earrings, fancy dresses and all the jewelry." Alex's techniques are already landing him the ladies: he advises his guys to "comb your hair and don't wear sweats" and to "control your hyperness (cut down on sugar if you need to)." Alex tells his fellow guys that "[t]he best choice for most boys is a regular girl. Remember, some pretty girls are coldhearted when it comes to boys. Don't let them get to you." (Unfortunately, Alex still may be naive in some areas, as he tells his readers, "Girls like the smartest boys.") How to approach them? "If I say hi and you say hi back, we're probably off to a good start." When asked why he wrote the book, "Well, I saw a lot of boys having trouble to get girls to like them, so I thought this book will like probably help them."

Twilight

kliuless — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:46:01 -0800

What Girls Want - A series of vampire novels illuminates the complexities of female adolescent desire. (via) [prvsly]

BBBRRRPPP-tschk BBBRRRPPP-tschk phhtt-phhtt-THPPPPUUUUT-wrrrrp

flapjax at midnite — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 06:14:27 -0800

Awesome beatboxing gals are doing it for themselves.

[this is bad]

designbot — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:30:22 -0800

"Beat It," as reenacted by the Pedal Pusher Society, Milwaukee's finest all-girl-and-tranny bike gang. Oh, did I mention the co-founder is Metafilter's Own™ binocularfight?

Bite me, Larry Summers.

kyrademon — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:42:19 -0800

No gender differences found in math performance. None. Not on average, at least in countries where the sexes are treated equally. And no, not at the highest, outlier levels of mathematical ability, either, despite what some believe. And not in number of undergrad math degrees earned. And not in terms of complex problem solving ability. Just plain not.

That Golden Girl

[NOT HERMITOSIS-IST] — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:19:30 -0800

Emmy Award-winning actress Estelle Getty has died. This would be a great place to collect priceless Estelle moments, like old interviews, cultural cul-de-sacs, and Golden Girls moments. I'm partial to this parody of the movie Clueless.

Learn the game that adults play in private--and use it against them!

juv3nal — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:40:59 -0800

Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble! A "board game" where you gather a gang of girls in the roaring 20s and taunt, fib, & flirt your way to high school domination! Gamasutra interview with creator. PlayThisThing! review. (Used to be just a demo. I'd thought that they were going to monetize it, but it looks like the full version on there...maybe it makes you register later on..? Not done replaying to where the demo cut off yet.) Mac & PC versions available. Besides, how could you not love a game with a title like Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble? They're high school girls. They're dangerous. And in trouble.

The revolution will be led by a 12-year-old girl

sveskemus — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 07:07:16 -0800

The Girl Effect.

This is a story about a girl

homunculus — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:30:04 -0800

How The Hulk Almost Got Me Laid. [Via]

A Shiny New Generation

chuckdarwin — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:21:46 -0800

Miss Bimbo invites users to become the "coolest, richest most famous bimbo in the whole world". Unsurprisingly, the site, which encourages girls as young as seven to give virtual dolls breast implants and put them on crash diets, has been widely condemned by parents and children's activists. "Level 7: After you broke up with your boyfriend you went on an eating binge! Now it’s time to diet ... Your target weight is less than 132lbs."

Vintage propaganda and more from Weirdo Video

carsonb — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 17:06:54 -0800

Please enjoy vintage video propaganda:
Don't Be A Sucker
The Enemy Agent & You
Your Job in Germany
So They Tell Me and
Propaganda Techniques
Uploaded by Weirdo Video, host of rare & authentic 16mm films of cultural, historical and ironical significance. I'm having a blast digging through WV's site—I can't tell if it's the propaganda, music, girls, drugs, adverts, or all this odd of Americana that's got me so tickled. Happy Tubesday!