The Brain under the Outfit

Last week a staff member at my university, who knows me only in the capacity of being a student employee, inquired as to what book I was reading. I told her I was reading Spook but did not bother to rattle off the whole title. I set my book down and proceeded to ring up her items (it’s summer, so yes, I am allowed to read at work when it’s slow). As she was about to turn around and leave she hesitated and then asked me what the book was about. After giving her the full title, Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, and a brief description of the book, she asked about my major and then commented, “I now see you in a whole other dimension. You are no longer just the pretty girl in the pretty clothes. I was a little afraid to ask you what Spook was about because I assumed it was just some cheap romance, mystery novel.” HA!!!! Me???? Read something like that??? I’d rather come to work in my pajamas!

SURPRISE! There IS a brain under this outfit. And NO, not all fashion conscious young women in high heels equate the term "well read" with romance novels and Cosmopolitan magazine. I’ve met my goal. I don’t fit the mold. I’m not the stereotypical science nerd. I’m changing people’s perceptions one small step at a time. While I’m not offended by this woman’s comments (it’s not her fault that, like all of us, she is filled with unconscious stereotypes that have been beaten into her by our lovely society), it is a reminder that people are going to make assumptions about me based on how I look. It means I might have to work harder to prove myself and to get people to see who I really am. It’s worth it, though. I am up for the challenge because maybe, just maybe, this woman will think twice about the depths of intellectual capacity that may be beneath the next stylish, nail-polished, perfume-wearing, high-heeled, young woman she comes across.