Pink & Tech DO Mix
Date Published:
Try it yourself. Randomly ask people how they picture a hacker girl and you probably end up with someone gothic looking like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, or nerdy like in The Net.
But women in tech span the whole spectrum. They made up one third of my engineering class, including the valedictorian. Yet, the widespread view persists that particularly feminine women don't understand tech. So we keep discouraging girls in middle school, high school, and later stages of life. I've seen myself in college what the lack of role models, mentors, and sponsors can do.
Why do so many believe that pink and tech don't mix? Why is it even news that the reigning Miss Universe Ireland works for NASA and supports Girls Who Code and Black Girls Code? Why does a former Victoria's Secret model have to defend her coding credentials against vicious attacks in 2018!?
Why?
Blame Popular Culture
Cyberspiracy aims to encourage teenage girls to enter tech fields by providing a role model through realistic stories about a hacker girl who loves pink but hides from bullying behind the avatar of a 6’4†male surfer with the handle Cowabunga Dude.
When I started this art for social change project, I did a survey of popular stories about female hackers to find any that spoke to feminine girls. I found none within the drama genres and only a few in animation and comedy: A Barbie movie, a handful of Disney films (such as How to Build a Better Boy), and of course the two big TV series Kim Possible and Atomic Betty.
However, cheerleading Kim Possible doesn't qualify, because she relies for her computer work on a stereotypical nerdy boy. Plus she suffers from the same limitation as the other light-hearted works, namely that the fantastical plots do not reflect real-life experiences of women in tech.
Using a Sesame Street for Adults approach, Cyberspiracy fills this void with fun and thrilling yet realistic coming-of-age stories of a girl grappling with technology, bullying, identity, and survival.
With support of a small grant, I released the first book last month.
Story page: www.Cyberspiracy.com/story
Buy page: Books2Read.com/Cyberspiracy
To reach the widest audience possible, I need to make the stories available in other formats, especially for an audience that grows up on YouTube and Instagram Stories. Discussions with comic book illustrators and actresses, even those supportive of the vision, usually end with that they can't make such a large time commitment for free.
Cue Wishwall
I wish to see Cowabunga come to life in a feature-length video to serve as a relatable role model for girls considering tech fields. Finished screenplays exists for the first two stories, giving investors something tangible to evaluate. Among others, I can see these possible partners.
• Seed money provided by crowd funding or sponsors can be leveraged to get other investors or state programs on board.
• Production of a proof of concept, such as a sizzle reel, can get non-traditional funders on board such as Women in Technology International (WITI).
• Companies like Google or Microsoft with a vested interest in bringing more women into the industry may invest, or sponsor ad-free distribution through streaming, TV, or screenings, to reach girls with diverse backgrounds.
• Influencers can give these inexpensive retail products a boost on social media to generate funds. Melinda Gates has girls in tech close to her heart, as does Geena Davis.
• Even a small effort like a shout out from #GirlPower superstars like Katy Perry can give tremendous visibility to the cause.
Cyberspiracy can serve as an ongoing series to reinforce its messages with its target audience, supported by blogs, vlogs, and social media. Cowabunga has her own accounts that fans can follow and interact with.
https://twitter.com/AnnyAllerton
https://www.facebook.com/AnnyAllerton
https://www.instagram.com/AnnyAllerton
If the success of this project inspires copycats or helps similar works lingering in obscurity gain popularity, it can only help achieve the ultimate goal. For I wish that in the remake of Mean Girls Cady can join both the Mathletes AND the Plastics without thinking twice about it.
P. S. Other themes in Cyberspiracy support the main theme. Both political candidates are women, as is the campaign manager. The supporting roles split 50-50 female-male, a ratio rarely seen in male-dominated Hollywood. Finally, mixing in lots of action sequences similar to Kim Possible‘s approach aims to attract a male audience to expose them to the anti-bullying and anti-discrimination messages.
But women in tech span the whole spectrum. They made up one third of my engineering class, including the valedictorian. Yet, the widespread view persists that particularly feminine women don't understand tech. So we keep discouraging girls in middle school, high school, and later stages of life. I've seen myself in college what the lack of role models, mentors, and sponsors can do.
Why do so many believe that pink and tech don't mix? Why is it even news that the reigning Miss Universe Ireland works for NASA and supports Girls Who Code and Black Girls Code? Why does a former Victoria's Secret model have to defend her coding credentials against vicious attacks in 2018!?
Why?
Blame Popular Culture
Cyberspiracy aims to encourage teenage girls to enter tech fields by providing a role model through realistic stories about a hacker girl who loves pink but hides from bullying behind the avatar of a 6’4†male surfer with the handle Cowabunga Dude.
When I started this art for social change project, I did a survey of popular stories about female hackers to find any that spoke to feminine girls. I found none within the drama genres and only a few in animation and comedy: A Barbie movie, a handful of Disney films (such as How to Build a Better Boy), and of course the two big TV series Kim Possible and Atomic Betty.
However, cheerleading Kim Possible doesn't qualify, because she relies for her computer work on a stereotypical nerdy boy. Plus she suffers from the same limitation as the other light-hearted works, namely that the fantastical plots do not reflect real-life experiences of women in tech.
Using a Sesame Street for Adults approach, Cyberspiracy fills this void with fun and thrilling yet realistic coming-of-age stories of a girl grappling with technology, bullying, identity, and survival.
With support of a small grant, I released the first book last month.
Story page: www.Cyberspiracy.com/story
Buy page: Books2Read.com/Cyberspiracy
To reach the widest audience possible, I need to make the stories available in other formats, especially for an audience that grows up on YouTube and Instagram Stories. Discussions with comic book illustrators and actresses, even those supportive of the vision, usually end with that they can't make such a large time commitment for free.
Cue Wishwall
I wish to see Cowabunga come to life in a feature-length video to serve as a relatable role model for girls considering tech fields. Finished screenplays exists for the first two stories, giving investors something tangible to evaluate. Among others, I can see these possible partners.
• Seed money provided by crowd funding or sponsors can be leveraged to get other investors or state programs on board.
• Production of a proof of concept, such as a sizzle reel, can get non-traditional funders on board such as Women in Technology International (WITI).
• Companies like Google or Microsoft with a vested interest in bringing more women into the industry may invest, or sponsor ad-free distribution through streaming, TV, or screenings, to reach girls with diverse backgrounds.
• Influencers can give these inexpensive retail products a boost on social media to generate funds. Melinda Gates has girls in tech close to her heart, as does Geena Davis.
• Even a small effort like a shout out from #GirlPower superstars like Katy Perry can give tremendous visibility to the cause.
Cyberspiracy can serve as an ongoing series to reinforce its messages with its target audience, supported by blogs, vlogs, and social media. Cowabunga has her own accounts that fans can follow and interact with.
https://twitter.com/AnnyAllerton
https://www.facebook.com/AnnyAllerton
https://www.instagram.com/AnnyAllerton
If the success of this project inspires copycats or helps similar works lingering in obscurity gain popularity, it can only help achieve the ultimate goal. For I wish that in the remake of Mean Girls Cady can join both the Mathletes AND the Plastics without thinking twice about it.
P. S. Other themes in Cyberspiracy support the main theme. Both political candidates are women, as is the campaign manager. The supporting roles split 50-50 female-male, a ratio rarely seen in male-dominated Hollywood. Finally, mixing in lots of action sequences similar to Kim Possible‘s approach aims to attract a male audience to expose them to the anti-bullying and anti-discrimination messages.
