As the ESA Education funded students at the International Astronautical Congress we had to do outreach with pupils from Toronto schools. It was a great experience, besides it was genuinely fun.
One of the things I was involved in was assisting pupils in coming up with short stories about aliens, illustrating and writing them up in the form of comics. One of the pupils, a little girl (approx. 11 years old) whom I was looking after didn't fancy drawing a comic, but she really wanted to just draw. I thought it was fair enough and told her to just take a blank sheet of paper and draw whatever she wanted. Eventually she showed me her work - it depicted two aliens, obviously fighting, and a spaceship; all of this surrounded by flames. I must say I was somewhat surprised, a bit worried even, so I asked her for some clarification. I almost wish I hadn't.
Both aliens were indeed fighting. One of them, a female wanted to fly the spaceship while the other, a male, would never let her. The direness of the situation was depicted by the flames surrounding everything.
Why would an 11 year old come up with something like this? Why is our society so deeply flawed that even children face, and hence realise, the social norms that dictate what they should and shouldn't do based on their sex? Next time you have a chance to do something about this please remind yourself of this story. There are simply too many reasons why this is a good thing to do to mention them all.
On a more personal note: I've been a very keen sailor for man years and am currently following a round-the-world regatta, the Volvo Ocean Race. Sailing around the World is potentially the hardest, most challenging thing one can do. And this is the team I'm a supporter of.
One of the things I was involved in was assisting pupils in coming up with short stories about aliens, illustrating and writing them up in the form of comics. One of the pupils, a little girl (approx. 11 years old) whom I was looking after didn't fancy drawing a comic, but she really wanted to just draw. I thought it was fair enough and told her to just take a blank sheet of paper and draw whatever she wanted. Eventually she showed me her work - it depicted two aliens, obviously fighting, and a spaceship; all of this surrounded by flames. I must say I was somewhat surprised, a bit worried even, so I asked her for some clarification. I almost wish I hadn't.
Both aliens were indeed fighting. One of them, a female wanted to fly the spaceship while the other, a male, would never let her. The direness of the situation was depicted by the flames surrounding everything.
Why would an 11 year old come up with something like this? Why is our society so deeply flawed that even children face, and hence realise, the social norms that dictate what they should and shouldn't do based on their sex? Next time you have a chance to do something about this please remind yourself of this story. There are simply too many reasons why this is a good thing to do to mention them all.
On a more personal note: I've been a very keen sailor for man years and am currently following a round-the-world regatta, the Volvo Ocean Race. Sailing around the World is potentially the hardest, most challenging thing one can do. And this is the team I'm a supporter of.
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