The book Toys and Tools in Pink analyzes female character types that recur in fictional narratives in print, on television, and in the cinema: female criminals and detectives, mothers who practice medicine, and “babe scientists,” among others. It also investigates how narrative settings and plots both subsume and influence cultural stereotypes of gender in prescribing salient professional and personal codes of conduct in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields.

The topic of the book talk is “Babe Scientist: Science and Sex,” and will examine representations of women scientists in recent Hollywood films.

Carol Colatrella is a Professor in the School of Literature, Communication, and Culture, and co-director of the Georgia Tech Center for the Study of Women, Science and Technology.