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4.19.2005 ||> We want revolution, girl-style now
Yesterday I was at a Radio Shack at the mall when one of my largest pet peeves occurred. We were looking at PDA stylii (I had to look that plural up, so there!) when for some reason the guy at Radio Shack said that I wouldn't be interested in electronic gadgets because that was a "guy thing." I was so overcome with indignation, my brain clouded up in this red fog and I could only sputter for about thirty seconds. Then I said the only thing that came to mind which was, "Hey, I can do DOS coding on an 8088! Don't tell me it's a 'guy thing'!" Suitably impressed, the guy let us walk out, without a stylus.
But really, where does he get off saying that to me? One of the things that bugs me the most is when guys and some girls (you know girls do it too!) make it seem like computers are simply the realm of guys, something that the ladies couldn't possibly understand. It's the one truly mindless, sexist thing people are still "allowed" to say and it annoys the hell out of me.
Every time I call tech support for something, I always ask for a woman. The male tech support guys always treat me as if I were exceptionally stupid, even after I start speaking as someone who clearly understands computers. If I speak with a woman, I start using terms like "safe mode" and "ip number" and they instantly speak to me like I'm a human being worthy of respect. The guys seem incapable of that.
Looking at all the sites I go to, the majority of those are designed by women. Movable Type was created by a husband and wife team, and some of the biggest blogs out there are made by women. There are women graphic designers and women webmasters, so why does programming have to be exclusively done by men? We're already halfway there. I think that with some of the dismal numbers out there of girls who are actually encouraged to go into computer programming, stomping out stereotypes that girls aren't innately able to handle science, math or computers should be our first priority. With the right expectations, the playing field can become leveled.
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