High school girls build kick-### robots | The Verge

[Katie_UPS]

Originally Posted by Tim Sharp

The girls started working with a robot that the boys had initially built. Almost immediately, they solved problems that the boys couldn’t. One example: the robot wouldn’t drive straight. The boys tried to correct for this by over-steering, but it wasn’t a real solution. The girls took the robot apart, identified a problem in the drivetrain, and fixed it. Now when the robot needed to operate autonomously, it could complete its tasks without of veering off course.

I agree that its really lame that the author threw the boys under the bus, but I think the real point is to show that girls CAN and DID solve hard* problems, and they didn't short-cut when solving the problem (unlike Computer Engineering Barbie where Barbie "programs"... but actually doesn't).

*I have no idea how challenging of a problem this is to find/diagnose/solve. My field is more 1's and 0's.

This also stuck out to me:
They developed competition strategies without loud-mouthed boys and repaired the robot on the fly without having to defer to the strongly held opinions of the male members of the team.

Imagine the reaction if someone said, "they developed a bold competition strategy despite the timidity of the girls and made mid-competition changes despite the risk averse attitudes of the female members" .
The girls would be offended and rightly so.

Stereotypes are a really weird thing when talking about gender issues, because discussing gender studies relies on stereotypes, while also saying that they are bad for everyone involved. By explicitly calling out the domineering male stereotype they are implying the submissive female stereotype, and using the two to demonstrate why leaving-the-boys-at-home was beneficial for the girls.

Maybe it would have been better stated as
"The 'timid' girls had to develop their competition strategies, and were able to do so in a place where they would not be ignored or talked over. Additionally they had to overcome their risk-aversion and make changes to the robot -which would not have been made if the boys were around- learning more about the mechanics as they were not the ones who built it"

This version distributes the stereotypes a more evenly while outlining why the event was beneficial to the girls. But now its not really in-your-face, we-use-swears-in-our-titles journalism anymore, and it is boring to read. They both get the message across, but one is using its "edgy" factor to entertain as well as inform.