Science: It’s a girl thing! This teaser video is hitting the wrong nerves online [Updated]

Update: And now the video appears to have been changed to private, likely reflecting the massive negative response to the ill-advised campaign spot. The video, before being removed, had over 2,000 ‘thumbs down’ responses and a host of negative comments.

Update 2: The ‘teaser video’ has now been replaced by one featuring much more acceptable role models.

Much as we aim to support women in technology and science, there are some things that seem to do the cause no favours and the European Commission’s latest teaser video is not going down well.

Indeed it appears to be more tease than science. We think it is supposed to encourage young women to study and work in the field of science. But it also seems to encourage the idea of working in a lab lit like a disco while dressed in high heels and a satin onesie.

Maybe there are female scientists who do relate to this portrayal, do let us know in the comments.

Though the video is pink and mildly appalling, the Facebook page associated with the campaign fares better with more information and some video interviews with women in science.

Twitter is also showing a storm of outrage brewing over the presentation.

Science: it’s a girl thing. Excuse me while I die inside. scienceblogs.com/sciencepunk/20…

— Frank Swain (@SciencePunk) June 22, 2012

Can the many amazing women in science/medicine/tech get together+make a better film to counteract the ‘Science:it’s a girl thing’ tripe?

— Petra Boynton (@DrPetra) June 22, 2012

This video brings back arguments of how to refer to women, whether they are seen as ‘girls’ professionally and well, though science is sexy, does it really mean that women in science have to dress this way?

As one commentator on Facebook pointed out:

Let us know what you think. Does a video like this fairly represent women in science? Does it encourage young women to become scientists?

Though we know that stereotypes of women who work in labs are also unfair, we’re not entirely convinced that this video is particularly helpful.

Image Credit: Argonne National Laboratory