Can anyone suggest why girls at 6 change their view of girls' ability to be brilliant?

No ALL adolescents feel that they don't belong and, from what I can gather, most adults!

Haven't seen that (we tend to record and FF) - all part and parcel of the same thing, from the sound of it.

Well the bloke in the washing machine ad CAN work it properly, he's just looked down on by his partner .

Older than 6 but two things made me itch this week.
Maths question sounding like "maria is 6.234 kgs heavier than Lisa. Megan weighs 1.342 kgs less than Lisa. The girls weigh together however much it was. What does each girl weigh?"

And in spag the brilliant example of the day was... "boys will be boys" !!!

Those men-as-idiots ads - usually when it comes to anything domestic - are bad too. Feeds into the same tired stereotypes from the other side.

Errol They have changed quite a bit in the last few years, there are plenty of men being treated as idiots now. (It annoys me actually why can't we all just be seen as people by the admakers?).

Though I suppose not , the admakers DO think we're all idiots otherwise they wouldn't be trying to sell such shit to us!

vestal the 'look your best for the ball' advert only contains girls. The boys get adverts showing them having fun outdoors playing with friends and making things.

The need created in boy adverts is the need to have more stuff.

The need created in girl adverts is to look better.

The second message has more impact on self-esteem because it attacks how you see yourself, not how many things you own.

TV ads are full of sexist stereotypes and different products 'aimed' at the sexes though.

Morphene, that does not explain why the self-esteem of white boys is usually pretty intact even after watching TV.

Advertisements make boys and men buy things they do not need, too - but I don't think they erode their self-esteem as much.

You are right of course Morphene which is why we should ideally teach our children to question the images we see in magazines, on posters etc and inject a healthy dose of cynicism. It's not easy is it.

The problem with advertising is that the take home message is often the opposite of that said out loud.

For example, 'makeup X, because I'm worth it', is code for 'buy our make up as its the only way you will ever approach even half decent looking...and even with it you will never look anything like me'.

'Girls can be engineers too!' is code for 'girls aren't usually engineers, only the odd ones who are a bit like boys are'

'Everyone wants to look their best for the ball' is code for 'start obsessing over appearance now, even though you are only 3/4 yo, and beat the rush!'

ALL advertising is negative on self-esteem (because that is how you sell stuff that people don't actually need....by creating neediness), so unless you think children aren't exposed to advertising, the deficit in their self-esteem is pretty easy to explain.

I think the media has a role to play in this, but I can't really put my finger on why they are so hard on themselves.

That's interesting because I've always thought that SM was massive in shaping youngsters' opinions.

However, I'm sure we can all remember tiny little things that have stuck with us during childhood and maturity.

I don't think it takes much. A comment here or there will suffice.

My dd and her friends aren't really on social media yet, so not sure if it's that, or if they are just so sure that the way they are isn't quite good enough.
I think the media has a role to play in this, but I can't really put my finger on why they are so hard on themselves.

This is why I sent my DDs to a girls' primary school.

I remember taking DD1 to see a girls' secondary school, and a physics teacher there telling me about how great it is when the girls realised that they could be good at science. DD1 just looked really confused. All the people at her school that were good at science were girls. Why would she think girls couldn't be good at science?

Yes It must very difficult to withstand the technological onslaught. I can and do ( but admit that it's not easy , and I'm oldish there's so much that is tempting and involves the family) I do ignore everything except, emails, FB and here of course!

Yes indeed adolescents have always been unsure of themselves. But they didn't have to go through that in the glare of public scrutiny. You could be bullied at school and that didn't follow you into your own home.

Adolescents haven't changed, but adolescent life really has, and MH problems are increasing out of control.

I'm not sure that's the case Morphene All adolescents are unsure of themselves and always have been. If you're taught to deal with failure as just being part of life that can help. I reckon a lot of people are eating a load of rubbish now (perhaps more than ever? though I'm not sure). I reckon that that can lead to MH issues.

Though smoking is less prevalent now so that is a positive thing.

ahhh scrutiny....that will be social media driven.

I don't know if I would try skating if I thought a picture of me on my ass would be visible to all my mates the next day....

honestly, social media is creating a MH epidemic in our society.

I have said to my dcs and now to my GD that you just have to try again and again e,g, if you can't skip well to start with and you WANT to. Our gd has perfected her cartwheels with practice. She has confidence now. It's just a matter of repeating the mantra and praising the effort as well as the result

this level of self scrutiny and criticism would stop girls from believing that they were ever good enough, let alone be brilliant.

But is it really self scrutiny and criticism or does it come from somewhere? Is it part of them or has it been developed due to the scrutiny and criticism of others?
Girls have a multitude of standards to live to...be pretty,be thin,look nice,stay clean,be well behaved,do well in school and that's before you add the extracurriculars. Can they really achieve all these standards without feeling they failed somehow or another?

I see a lot of girls aged from 7-9 (DD's friends) and they hold themselves to really high standards - can they skate really well, do gymnastics, look thin, look pretty, do cool stuff - but get very upset when they perceive they can't do things. Can't skate expertly the first time of trying? Waaaaillll I'm useless/fat/ugly/stupid, same with everything really. It's really sad and I personally don't know what to do about that. I can imagine that this level of self scrutiny and criticism would stop girls from believing that they were ever good enough, let alone be brilliant.

KateAdies IMO the people who WANT a high powered , stressful life/job running the country or multi million businesses do have the opportunity nowadays. If a parent wants to work at home with the children (because it IS work ). Then IMO it should be accepted.

Well, the evidence is in the article linked in the OP.

Not sure I understand the question or why you'd need to run for cover?

If I understand the OP correctly, she is asking why do girls think they can be brilliant until age 6? Thereafter they change their opinion of themselves.

This does of course beg a question, is there any evidence for this?

.....ducks and runs for safety.