The Bright Girl List

Via Sadie at Jezebel, Heidi Grant has a theory about Bright Girls:

Bright Girls, when given something to learn that was particularly foreign or complex, were quick to give up; the higher the girls' IQ, the more likely they were to throw in the towel. In fact, the straight-A girls showed the most helpless responses. Bright boys, on the other hand, saw the difficult material as a challenge, and found it energizing. They were more likely to redouble their efforts rather than give up.

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Are there things you decided long ago that you could never be good at? Skills you believed you would never possess? If the list is a long one, you were probably one of the Bright Girls.

Ugh, I really hate it when theories explaining sexism or gender differences ring totally true to my own experience. Therefore, here's a list of things I gave up on being good at pretty early in life.

1. Playing piano. (Let's face it. I really hated practicing.)
2. Playing clarinet. (Same reason.)
3. Playing alto saxophone. (Don't worry, I'm getting to non-musical related things soon.)
4. Math. Like tons of other girls, I was really good at math throughout high school, but then when I fit my three years of requirements, I stopped instead of going for pre-calc even though my geometry teacher encouraged me to pursue a career in math. I guess I believed the stereotypes.
5. Cooking. Well, at least this was true for a long time. Because cooking was something that women were supposed to be good at it, I stayed away for a long time.
6. Video games. I always got really frustrated that I wasn't good at these right away. I guess I missed that you have to spend hours and hours on this to get better at it.
7. Fashion. Same with shopping. I hated it as a kid and have only gotten to like it marginally more as I get older, thanks mostly to online shopping. I find going to stores tiresome and I'm not particularly fashionable.
8. Economics. It took one class in college to convince me I was no good at this. Do I get points for listening to the Planet Money podcast?

This list could be much longer, but I'm going to avoid going down that ego-stripping path. The point is, women seem to judge themselves much more harshly than men do. Or at least, I find that anecdotally true.