Astrophysicist Princess.JPG — Why can’t an astro-physicist also be a princess?

Girls, books, and the power to choose

I recently saw a t-shirt ad for little girls that read something like, “Never mind princesses, I want to be an astrophysicist!” I get the idea. We want our girls to aspire to be anything they want to be, including the most prestigious, competitive, and challenging of male dominated professions in STEM. We want them to be doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientists, computer programmers and every other occupation of high status with good salaries so that they can be independent women who are respected and admired. But why can’t they also be princesses?

What does it mean to be a princess, and does that automatically negate the possibility of being a scientist, a thinker and a doer? I don’t think so. The idea of being a ‘princess’ is correlated with the idea of beauty, femininity, fortune, and comfort. Little girls like ‘princesses’ because they are pretty and have amazing clothes, fabulous hair, and live in beautiful palaces often with magical friends and even fairy godmothers with wings! What’s wrong with that? I like those things too. Does it mean that I can’t also like science, math or critical pedagogy? Does it mean that little girls can’t have books about both or even better about astrophysicist princesses making discoveries about the universe and themselves? Of course not! Our girls can and should have it all!

Does being pretty or having stylish clothes mean you can’t also be interested in marine biology or chemical engineering? No way! Why does popular culture seem to be asking our daughters to choose between beauty and brains? Can’t they have both? Why create a dichotomy so that girls who are not interested in STEM feel like they are somehow ‘less than’ those who are? What’s wrong with being primarily interested in arts or literature, fashion or design? We can still be strong, intelligent and powerful women no matter what we choose to study, or how we choose to wear our hair or clothes. Those little girls out there playing with make-up and dolls who want everything pink are just as bright as the ones building with Legos and digging through the mud with sticks. They just have different ways of learning about the world. They have different kinds of creativity and imagination that fuel their curiosity, and that is okay.

Let’s make sure that the beautiful diversity of girls out there see themselves in a beautiful diversity of books. We need more books showing diverse women and girls doing all kinds of things - without limits. We need all kinds of women to keep the planet working and those women come from all kinds of girls. Our diversity as women is our strength. We are not all the same. We do not think with one brain, we do not all want the same things, and that is okay. That is healthy, normal, and beautiful.

Let’s keep encouraging little girls to pursue their dreams no matter what those dreams are. Let’s give them opportunities to explore, discover and create the world they want to live in. Let’s give them the books they need and deserve. But let’s also remember that we can all be more than one thing at the same time and that one way of being does not automatically negate another. We can be superheroes and princesses, scientists and homemakers, mathematicians and mothers, filmmakers and fashionistas.

Here's to all of the badass princesses and queens out there who are also inventors, scientists, healers and technicians, and to those who are not - and who don’t want to be. Equal rights means not having to choose one particular way of life, certain professions, or certain dreams. It means being able to choose many ways of life, any profession and all of your dreams. Let’s write and publish books that inspire and engage all shapes, sizes, and colors of girls – and boys – in ways that are powerful and authentic. And let’s buy the books out there that are already doing that for our homes, classrooms and libraries. Let’s support the writers and publishers who have recognized this need and embraced it. All those curious scientist, explorer, builder, writer, artist, and doctor princesses are waiting for us. Let’s not let them down.

(an earlier version of this post appeared on The Thinking Cafe blog at thethinkingcafe.com)