"girl power"

I can't even remember what exactly brought me to these two websites, but it had something to do with searching for power tools designed for people with small hands, or at least in the beginning it did. And then...

Holy chalupa! What century are those people living in???!

From the page about decorating bedrooms for girls: "Allocate space for playing with a doll house, small table and chairs for tea parties, child sized vanity for preening, stuffed animals, wall decorations and a splash of color."

From the page about decorating bedrooms for boys: "Boys bedrooms need a study area, social section, solitude nook and sports place. Be prepared to have the desk transformed into a media center, filled with electronic games and computer units. Sports equipment, also memorabilia will need to be stored."

I can't even begin to list all the things wrong with this. It would take me all day, and I've got places to be (three guesses - it's NOT a tea party - and it involves power tools). Among the most ridiculous are the ideas that girls play no video games or sports and girls don't need a study area. (I'm not even going to get started on the misconceptions about the poor little boys.)

Stuff like this reaaaaaaally pisses me off. Is that what young girls in this country are truly exposed to? How incredibly naive do you have to be to think that all little girls want tea parties instead of video games? That all little boys want sports equipment and not dollhouses? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!!!

Here at MIT, and more particularly at pika, I am proud to say we are doing things differently. You would not believe the girl power that has gone in to building our ramp. Fully 100% of my time working on the project has been spent working alongside competent, confident, brilliant women who I am proud to say never listened to any such nonsense about tea parties. Not that they don't have tea parties, or knit, or sew, or like stuffed animals... but they are equally at home on a construction site (with BIG power tools, I'm not talking about a few nails here), playing a mean game of ultimate frisbee, and messing about with computers.