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a friend showed her 6y/o niece one of my Constellations episodes, who asked if I’d been to space. my friend replied “Not yet.” she then said, “I bet she will. And I want to go to space too and learn to live on the moon.”
and that’s why I do what I do
http://Instagram.com/starstrickenSF
and that’s why I do what I do
http://Instagram.com/starstrickenSF
From a young age, girls are conditioned to believe the negative stereotypes regarding a girl’s abilities. Multiple studies show that when children are asked to draw a mathematician or scientist, girls are two times more likely to draw a man than a woman.
These persistent, implicit stereotypes shape young people’s--& especially young girl’s-- expectations of who can be a scientist and what a scientist looks like.
This “stereotype threat” triggers crippling self-doubt in even the most driven girls. The stereotype is especially damaging for young girls of color.
When I give public astronomy talks and when I signed on to host Constellations, my number one goal is to be the girl that young Sarafina would have wanted to look up to. I want young girls to see that they can do science! That it’s FUN!!!!
I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be a woman in astrophysics.
What it would’ve meant to me to have a woman who looks like me - brown skin, long hair, Arab nose, astrophysicist - to look up to as a young girl.
What it would’ve meant to me to have a woman who looks like me - brown skin, long hair, Arab nose, astrophysicist - to look up to as a young girl.
This is why I do what I do.
also!!! my @rasc talk on supernovae is up on my website in PDF form if ya wanna go check it out and can’t wait for the YouTube upload in a couple weeks! https://starafina.com/talks
