This is only part of the story. As far as I can see it, the biggest difference between men and women is that there are less women who don't give a shit about 's

This is only part of the story. As far as I can see it, the biggest difference between men and women is that there are less women who don't give a shit about 'social acceptance'. The OP's post is mostly about schools, social issues, etc... Since I have seen a computer as a 12 year old guy, I did not give a shit about other people's opinion on my programming skills, I did not learn programming in school, etc... I just needed to program. My mind did not rest until I did not give it a programming poblem to solve. When I created a little game, I felt that I created a new world from scratch. The real question is why this kind of enthusiasm and this kind of social-proof ignorance is more rare (although existing) amongst women.