so I'm six years late to this party,
but talk to me about Lydia Martin, please. Â
Talk to me about how a girl who wants to win a fields medal and reads about theoretical physics for fun and knows enough about chemistry to make a bomb off the top of her head ends up playing the vapid mean girl who only cares about clothes and popularity.Â
Who was it? Â Was it her father? Her third grade teacher? Â Her mother? Â Which one of the authority figures she trusted told her that girls arenât allowed to care about math and science, let alone be good at them? Â Which adult saw a little girl with so much potential that didnât fit in their gendered boxes and tried to smother her?
Donât give me that bullshit about how girls can care about makeup AND be smart, or that bullshit about weaponized femininity. Â Do not. Â Speaking as a former little girl, I can tell you that you donât arrive at the conclusion that you have to look perfect and untouchable all the time on your own. Â You donât learn to weaponize societyâs expectations of you before theyâve hurt you.Â
Talk to me about a little girl who is so fascinated with the world around her and the way it works, talk to me about a little girl who is driven enough to find those answer for herself, who is dedicated enough to learn to understand themâbut then her teachers give her a pat on the head and a wouldnât you rather go play with dolls with the other girls when she starts asking questions;
but then her hand gets ignored when theyâre doing science units, because the teacher doesnât have time for more interruptions, Lydia;
but then her classmates start imitating their teachers when she asks questions or knows the answers, because thatâs what children do;
but then her father buys her a barbie for Christmas instead of the chemistry set she asked for;
but then her mother takes her shopping and tells her how much prettier sheâd be is she smiled, how much more fun lipstick is than science, how she has to start shaving her arms and legs now (why? because thatâs what a girl does, Lydia, if you get all hairy none of the boys will ever look twice)
and she realizes that the people around her arenât going to stop pushing until she fits into their idea of what a girl should be, of what a girl can be interested in. Â so she stops asking questions in class, thanks her father for the doll, learns how to apply lipstick without a mirror and hold her image around her like a shield and a sword all at once, to keep everyone from realizing she still looks at everything around her and wants to know how.Â
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