Soooo very true. It's an issue I struggle with daily, literally. We've got two kids, both very very smart. But it seems like things at school and gadding-about-town in general are accepted quite differently from the male than the female. How can I help her actualise herself as the brilliant scientist she seems to be born to be, without concurrently turning her into someone who cannot function with her peers? Or worse yet, how can I help her stick to her true self, when her peers are more interested in pushing themselves into 'girl stuff' that never interested her before, but might now, just to fit in?

Out there, my heart breaks when I notice:
He's judged on his brains. She's judged on how nicely her clothes fit. WTF?