A mother bought her two small daughters a book called Barbie: A Computer Engineer. Barbie begins having trouble with her laptop because a virus collapsed it. Two of her male friends come over. "It will go faster if Brian and I help," offers Steven. "Great!" says Barbie. The boys fix the computer for her. Nice story, right? Wrong!
A woman wrote a blog in response to the book and it that went viral. {I won't link to it since it uses foul language.} This blog called this book "insulting" and "dangerous for young minds." Online people completely agreed and one woman wrote, "Thank you, Barbie...for showing me that it's A-OK for women to sit back and let men take care of everything." Another editor of something replied, "We want our young girls to feel they're capable for anything and everything without question."
The Barbie book's author was shocked at the reaction. She made Barbie's friends males "since computer technology is a male dominated field...in no way trying to degrade women by doing that." Mattel, the publishers responded, "The book was published in 2010. Since that time we have reworked our Barbie books. The portrayal of Barbie in this specific story doesn't reflect what Barbie stands for..." Mattel has said that the book has been discontinued. {source}
Therefore, a blog post went viral because it portrayed Barbie as the helpless victim who needed boys "gasp" to come to her rescue. THIS used to be the story line for many romantic books and movies in the past. Men would ride in on their horses and rescue damsels in distress. Oh no! Not for today's liberated women. We need to be able to fix everything and do everything by ourselves because, "We are women. Hear us roar!"
You can't even find this book on Amazon anymore last I looked because this will just destroy young girls and cause them to think that men can help them or maybe even rescue them. We have SO emasculated men and their roles as protectors and providers that it is downright UGLY and we wonder why men no longer want to open doors or treat us with respect!
I LOVE that Ken can fix the computer when it breaks. He fixes many things for me and I appreciate it so much. I like having a man around to help in time of need. I can't lift heavy things so I ask the men in my life to help. They'll put up my Christmas tree for me next week. They change my heavy water filters for me when they need changing. My boys use to change the oil in our cars. They even open jars for me! Men are the ones who build homes, buildings, jets, highways, etc. They are the mechanics, electricians, and plumbers. I have NEVER minded calling a man to fix any of these things. Have you?
I'm sorry but this has gone too far. Everyone gets offended over anything and everything. Gays want the Duggars off of television because they believe in traditional marriage the way God intended it to be. Little girl books get pulled off of shelves because boys come and help Barbie. Am I going crazy or is this sheer stupidity???
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil;
that put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Isaiah 5:20
Logging you in...
Martha · 540 weeks ago
Lady Virtue · 540 weeks ago
Maria · 540 weeks ago
Tiffany · 540 weeks ago
Julie · 540 weeks ago
thejoyfilledwife 62p · 540 weeks ago
My husband is very chivalrous to me and always has been. He's very upset when he finds out that I've had to struggle with no one around offering to help. He always goes out of his way to open the door for others and help when needed.
Recently, I was driving with a few friends (two women and a husband) and, when we got to our destination, it took me a minute to realize that everyone was out of the car and already walking except me. My husband refuses to allow me to open my own car door and he's trained me to sit and wait until he comes around and helps me out. The man that was with us seemed not to be inclined in that way and, being used to sitting and waiting for my door to be opened and to be let out, I just sat there for a while until it dawned on me that everyone was walking away and it was up to me to open my car door. I accidentally did the same thing getting back to the car. I just stood outside the vehicle until I realized my husband was not present and the other gentleman was not opening doors for any of the women in our group. I love that my husband, when he drives people around, always opens the door for each lady in the group. It makes me proud to be his wife and grateful for his thoughtfulness.
Cynthia Swenson · 540 weeks ago
Roxy · 540 weeks ago
I for one enjoy having and getting help from those in my life who are stronger and have more knowledge in fixing things. We should not make women look helpless, but why can't men be portrayed as someone who helps and protects women. When I have struggled with a large package or item, I appreciate it when a man will help.
My Husband has always treated women with respect! Maybe the next time that lady that went nuts will get a flat tire or get stuck in snow or mud and she just might appreciate a big strong man to help! Just my opinion...
Roxy
colleen · 540 weeks ago
(Just an example: when the toilet thingy in the back falls off and needs to be reattached. My husband taught our son to do it so when it happens when he's not here, our oldest son can fix it. And with 5 kids using the toilet often, it happens at least a couple times a week.)
Friends have said I will give our kids a complex as they grow. I no longer share those kinds of stories in fear of being judged. Encouraging a man to be a man. The horror!
Jill York · 540 weeks ago
Christine · 540 weeks ago
Good post along with some great comments.
DLCUSNR · 540 weeks ago
Jo · 540 weeks ago
At home I turn to my husband for somethings (he does all the computer maintenance, car maintenance and very heavy work) and he turns to me for others (meals, mending and gardening). We compliment each other the way it is meant to be. If one is away we can usually manage as we all need to be be self-sufficient at times.
JDT · 540 weeks ago
I think you are missing the point; the main outrage about the book has nothing to do about asking for help. As a matter of fact the technology industry has bootstrapped itself by creating platforms that make it easy to gain help and assistance. These platforms are seen as a way to knowledge share and it is encouraged. However, lets focus on the example of the book and Barbie.
The book is titled “I Can Be a Computer Engineer”, which implies it would have Barbie displaying some sort of mastery in a computer engineer field. However, the story shows that Barbie breaks everything, has no clue what she is doing and when she breaks her friends computer she get into a pillow fight (as if that is the proper way to solve problems). In the end the only way she can get out of the mess she created is to ask two boys for help.
At first glace any outrage about this might appear to be overblown. However, it sends the message that computers are boys toys and if Barbie can’t figure it out, how can the little girl who is reading the story. What is sad is this mentality is entrenched in much of the technology industry today. Women engineers get paid less for equal work, they are overly critiqued, and they are harassed and mistreated. So if you put yourself in the woman’s shoes who is trying to succeed in a male dominated field like technology, books like this frustrate you because it only reinforces the wrong that you encounter daily.
JDT · 540 weeks ago
“How much more do we need as proof that gender equality has arrived and is now going too far?” I opened Business Insider yesterday and one of the first articles I saw was about ZocDoc were an employee makes the following claims:
“There were things the men who worked there could get away with saying like 'you aren't bubbly enough', 'you look hot today' etc. It was just accepted.” *More vulgar comments were also made, but I took them out.
"There was a distinct difference between the way upper management talked to and treated the women in the company. Male employees were at a great advantage and very buddy buddy with each other and the women (who weren't sleeping with someone in upper management) were on their own."
"I would often overhear managers say some of the girls dressed slutty, when I brought it up one gentleman even jokingly saying 'there's nothing wrong with that' while laughing it off."
Unfortunately, I read and hear about cases like this all the time and I am sure the issue is larger than the technology industry of which I work and am most familiar. Simply because there are rules against sexism in the work place and people agree that women should be treated equally does not mean it actually happens. Its like saying that racism ending with the over turn of Jim Crow and the election of Obama. The activists will settle down when articles like the above are no longer common place. A starting place to address this is with America’s youth, which the Barbie article does not help. As Jo said, if women aren’t interested in a STEM based vocation, fine no point in making a big deal about it. However, if they are, then they should be encouraged to pursue it to whatever level they desire without experiencing prejudice or discrimination because of their gender.
With regard to equal pay as a function of total hours worked, I am not sure I full agree. The point should be that women with the same experience as a man should receive equal pay. This statement assumes that the number hours/experience are on par. However, this issue becomes very apparent when you view entry-level positions where the number of hours and experience are equal yet men are still being paid a higher rate (see link below for a graph from Wikipedia on this topic). I agree that the company should be able to decide what it believes is a far wage. Nevertheless, this freedom to choose needs some accountability and transparency, which points to the need of the “activist”. In this case they exists to inform people that women are getting a raw deal and the issue needs addressing.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d...
JDT · 539 weeks ago
What I was arguing is people are justified in being upset over the Barbie book because it only exacerbates the exiting sexism in an already very male dominated field and undermines the progress that has been made. To justify my claims about the existing sexism I was giving examples from my personal life and a few articles of which I have read (there are countless more - almost one a week). One of those examples had to do with pay inequality; the others had to do with perception of women in the STEM fields and their treatment in the workplace. I was in no way saying that employers purposefully overpay male employees. That would indeed be absurd. With regard to pay, what I was arguing is that some employers in the STEM fields are paying females with equal ability less. I read about an interesting study on gender inequality a few weeks ago by a Yale professor. This study used two fake candidates with the same exact resumes except for their names (John & Jennifer). The two candidates received rather different reviews. The female was viewed as less competent and only offered $26,507 compared to the $30,238 for the male (see link below for details). The link you sent from the Huff Post tells a slightly different story, but it is also including (from what I can tell) all professions, not just STEM professions like we have been discussing. It also does not provide a link to how the study was preformed, so the scientific rigor is unknown.
We could go back and forth discussing pay differences, but that would be pointless as it is a symptom of the issue and not the cause. And the causes are a lot more complex than can be fleshed on in the comments sections of a blog so lets not go there.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/unofficial-pr...
PS I really enjoy the Job Hopping article.
PSS You are correct in tech it is not uncommon for companies put making money as second to their agenda.