IT Screen Goddesses Calendar! Okaaay!?

I just got an email about this calendar…

Hmm, interesting, but I’m not sure I would have gone down this path. To me, having a female who works in IT, lying on her back, covered in rose petals, isn’t exactly the kind of identity I would imagine young females to identify with. In fact, I would encourage the calendar creators to spend some time meeting and presenting with young people in high schools (which is where the decision to move into a career path is ultimately made), as they would probably find that most girls and boys find overtly sexual stereotypes confronting and uncomfortable. Add to the fact that parents have a considerable influence on a child's choice of career, I’m not sure this is going to win points. Why?

Well, one of the objectives of this calendar is to raise awareness of women in IT, and to “Smash through the perception of the geeky technologist “. Urghhh, how benign. If the ultimate goal is to attract women to the IT industry, I think the last thing you want to do is emit the message of “to get peoples attention, you need to vamp it up”.

What would have been cool would have been some kind of roadshow, where these women visited primary and high schools, explaining the reason they chose an IT career, and talk to students about their experiences from the trenches, and convey with passion and enthusiasm, why selecting a career in IT would be a good decision.

But in the absence of that, as Stewie would say, “Splendid. This calls for a sexy party!”