Who says math is hard?
Barbie did, when she was younger. But Mattel’s iconic doll, just turned fifty, is past all that; now she’s a full-fledged Computer Engineer, complete with pink laptop and a Bluetooth headset, presumably both detachable, but you really never know with Mattel.
Of course, some aspects of this makeover don’t quite ring true: no sneakers (I mean, really), and the hair screams “High maintenance!” On the upside, those glasses might even override Dorothy Parker’s rule. And if you’re a member in good standing of the We Need More Female Geeks movement, you might find this higher-tech Barbie a worthy effort:
Lynn Langit, a developer evangelist at Microsoft who teaches programming to girls and works on a Microsoft program called DigiGirlz that teaches girls about technology careers, said she was thrilled about Barbie’s next career.
“We can use any sort of positive influence that we have, because the number of girls studying programming is abysmal,” she said.
And maybe I won’t grumble about the hair: from the looks of things, this Barbie is going to grow up to be Miss Cellania, and you know that can’t be bad.
(Seen at Consumerist.)
Addendum: Perception vs. reality. (Via Zoe Brain.)
Jeffro »
15 February 2010 · 8:20 pm
Maybe it’s just me, but if this Barbie ate a cookie or three, she’d really remind me of Bonnie Hunt. Which would be a very good thing.
fillyjonk »
16 February 2010 · 7:12 am
I presume the flock of adoring Ken-type male engineers is sold separately.
I should have listened to my dad when he said “You could be an engineer,” the sex ratio is a lot more favorable than it is in biology these days.
CGHill »
16 February 2010 · 7:19 am
If I know Ken, he’s in a snit because she got the project done when he couldn’t.
Lisa Paul »
16 February 2010 · 8:03 am
Her real name is “Math Barbie” but I don’t know the name of the corresponding Ken. Or if there is one. I thought at one point, Mattel issued a Gay Ken, but surely that wouldn’t be Math Barbie’s companion. More like her humorous sidekick.
More climategate – it’s hurricanes this time « A Conservative Shemale »
16 February 2010 · 8:34 am
[...] High Tech Barbie – Math is hard, unless you do a lot of it and practice. It’s also the basis for understanding just about anything outside literary theory, and it might be useful there too. Most practitioners of that arcane art seem to exist in a different parallel world and it might be useful to visit them occasionally. [...]
fillyjonk »
16 February 2010 · 7:46 pm
Ah, yeah. If I had become an engineer, I’d probably be the one with the “humorous sidekicks.”