So you are now a member of a project team made up of 5 guys. However it becomes clear very quickly that none of you have much of an idea what the course is about, or what your project should focus on. Fortunately a couple have brought along the information packs, so you can at least look up the basics.
"Says here we need a project to study behaviors." one boy announces.
"Bit broad - what sort of behaviors?" another asks.
"Well social interactions I guess. Don't really know."
You all talk around what you think the scope of the project is supposed to be, although with little certainty, and achieve nothing in actually selecting a subject. You notice another group - consisting of 5 girls - who are clearly well advanced in their planning, with a detailed timeline and action plans outlined on a whiteboard.
"This is stupid. We're just a bunch of boys without a clue - look at them. At least they know what they're doing." You say.
"Well that's 'cos they're girls. Wish we had a girl in our group." a boy called Andy says.
"Why? What good would that do?" you ask.
"Well, they always seem better prepared and quick at picking up odd concepts. If we had a girl in the group I bet we'd be well underway by now." Andy replies.
"Yeah, but that's to do with genetics.They're built different to us - like inside." you respond.
"Crap. Everyone expects girls to be able to do things better, so they do. It's expectations, not genetics."
"Hang on," you ask. "So you're suggesting that if I was a girl then I'd have been more prepared, and come up with ideas for the project, purely because everyone expects girls to do that?"
"Spot on. That's what everyone expects, so girls deliver. Us lot, well everyone expects us to be crap, so we are - except by random chance anyway. It’s absolutely nothing to do with genetics.”
“And do you have any evidence to support that theory?” you retort.
“No, but….” There is a pause as the virtual penny clicks into place in Andy's head, and the mental processes gently whirl around, “it is feasible that you have just managed to give us the subject matter of a project.”
“Which is?”
“Like I said, if you were a girl you’d be better motivated and better prepared, because that’s what everyone expects. I say it’s expectations; you say it’s genetics. So if we could turn you into a girl we could prove the theory, one way or the other.”
“That’s no good.” You reply, “If I was a girl I'd have female genes, so that wouldn’t prove anything.”
“Yeah. That's not what I meant. If everyone thought that you were a girl, so had the expectations of you as a girl, maybe that could work.”
“So you’re going to hypnotize everyone in the school to think I’m a girl. Nice plan.”
“No, you numskull. That would nullify any natural behaviors. Bit if we could make you look like a girl, so that everyone treats you like a girl, we could measure any expectations of you, and how you respond. How are you in a skirt?”
“Come off it! If I was to turn up tomorrow wearing a skirt everyone would still treat me the same. Actually they definitely wouldn’t treat me the same, but they certainly wouldn’t treat me as if I was a girl. You’ll have to do far better than that!”
“No, I didn’t mean just putting on a skirt.” Andy retorts. “You would have to be convincing - no point otherwise. Guess the question is how we could do that. Measuring the results would be easy by comparison.”
The other boys in your group are listening intently to your exchanges, although until this point have been keeping any thoughts to themselves. Then Robin, one of the other boys, chips in with a comment. “My sister could help. She works in the beauty salon in the Mall. She took her boyfriend into the salon once before a “dress as your other half” Halloween party, and he came out looking more like a girl than she does.”
“Yeah, but this isn’t just for a party. I couldn’t go to your sister’s salon every day on the way to school. That’s just silly.”
“Oh, you wouldn’t need to.” Robin replies. “If you’re careful you’d only need her to tidy you up one or twice a week. She’d show you how maintain it all.”
“What about clothes?” Andy asks. Tony would need to dress up as a girl too – anyone got anything suitable?”
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Robin answers. “My sister used to go to this school. I think she still has her uniform, so we could borrow that from her – reckon it should fit Tony fairly well.”
“Great. In that case it looks like we have our project!” Andy announces. “All we need to do now is work out how to measure expectations and how well Tony fulfills them.”
“Hang on just a second!” you say, realizing that you had unintentionally set expectations. “I didn’t mean that it would be me dressing up as a girl! It could be any of us!”
Andy replies….
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