The wisdom of 14 year old girls

 (or "Wish I had better recall of facts so I could rebut her")

Camping with friends.

14 year old girl: I wrote a paper on "insert random math woman here" who had all her work stolen and published under her husband's name because patriarchy. Women never got credit for anything they did.

Me: What about Marie Curie

14 yog: she had privilege

Not me cause I didn't remember: Marie Curie was the Polish child of two school teachers who had their property taken by the Tzar for speaking out against him, and then her mother died when she was ten leaving her to grow up in relative poverty.

Not 14yog cause I didn't say that:  Oh, I was unaware of that.  Maybe I should rethink my hypothesis

LOL, just kidding.  Of course a 14 year old girl wouldn't acknowledge that her hypothesis about the patriarchy had holes you could drive a truck through.  Cause that's what she is being taught at her fancy middle school, and that's presumably what she will be taught at her fancy high school.

That being said, I at least pushed back in a rational manner, suggesting that judging people of the past on today's standards might not be a great first step.  But I wish I'd known more about Mme Curie before the discussion.

The night before, of course, the topic turned to transgenderism.  (I love camping with people I don't know well but it was a fun weekend anyway).  Same 14 yog tried to explain to me that two-spirited (the 2 in LGBTQWERTY) was for Native Americans only.  I asked about a category for Germans (no, because only oppressed people get categories) at which point other guy sitting at table asked about Irish.  Conversation quickly was turned to other subjects but I laughed inside for about an hour.  Now I'm doing it again.