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"…dominant culture that discourages women from even entering a computer lab filled with sweaty nerds, much less think about joining them." You have a good poin
by mattdw 16y ago
"…dominant culture that discourages women from even entering a computer lab filled with sweaty nerds, much less think about joining them."
You have a good point here, but it's not just that they're sweaty, it's that all too often they're actively hostile to women – whether it's sexist jokes, an obsession with rape in DND games (all too frequent) or just the way they seem shocked that a woman could actually be good at coding. Makes things a bit unpleasant, yeah?
- andymorris 16y agoFor pretty much all of my coding life, I distanced myself from the other people doing CS. I stayed and worked hard at it because I enjoy it, and definitely out of no love for the "dominant culture". Yes, we're all a socially inept bunch of geeks, whatever. Socially inept girls should fit right in, and the rest of the girls can do what I did - ignore it, and just focus on learning.
- Tichy 16y agoI am male and I would consider the people you describe to be unpleasant, too. Either I didn't encounter that many of them, or I did a better job ignoring them than the average woman. It's not as if you have to put up with that kind of behavior (when was the last time you were FORCED to join a D&D game??).