4 ms·

Also, there are a few studies suggesting women avoid computing because women dislike nonconformists and individualistic culture. Those examples don't point to

Also, there are a few studies suggesting women avoid computing because women dislike nonconformists and individualistic culture. Those examples don't point to women disliking "nonconformists and individualistic" cultures, they point to women not liking geek male culture. Plush Nintendo-shaped stuffed pillows are just as non-conformist as Star Trek toys, but those UCSC women seemed pretty happy with the environment. The Lin paper talks about all kinds of different problems (" women within the software industry have to work harder than men in order to get the same respect", etc)

yummyfajitas 15y ago
Those examples don't point to women disliking "nonconformists and individualistic" cultures, they point to women not liking geek male culture. It might just be certain non-conformist cultures women don't like. The point remains - if technology were less accepting of differences, it would probably have more women. I'm also not sure I agree that nintendo-pillows are as non-conformist as star trek toys - geek-chic has become fairly mainstream. Plenty of hipsters wear mario or pacman t-shirts but very few people of any mainstream subculture wear a borg or lt. data t-shirt.