>When I was 9-12 years old (late 70's, early 80's),......
>Maybe the social consequences for being a geek are worse for women than for
>men. The male geeks were pretty marginalized in high school, but beyond
>that they found this whole male-centered geek culture waiting for them...
>The women kind of STAY on the fringes.
When I was in high school (early 80s), I was startled and surprised by
one girl I wound up sitting next to in math.
She was - well, let's be frank. She had a reputation as the school
troublemaker, and as the Girl Most Likely To.
I had a reputation as the school goody-goody and the brain. The one with
no friends.
Turned out we were about equally smart at math. She needed some help
catching up with things she'd missed, but our final scores in that class
were about even.
But in subjects where I wasn't there to encourage her and fill in the
gaps in her knowledge, she wound up with high school results - well, that
you can predict for the school troublemaker. :( She valued being-accepted
over knowledge & marks.
Now, I personally think that's sad, but it was a decision she made and it
was her right to make it. And I'm sure she enjoyed her school years a lot
more than I did. (Me? 'Not at all' comes rapidly to mind).
I do support that female geeks start on the fringes and stay there -
I don't /belong/ anywhere. Not in my family. Not among male geek friends.
Not among female friends. It may just be me, but it's a strong sense I have.
This was going somewhere. I don't know where, anymore. :)
Jenn V.
--
Humans are the only species to feed and house entirely separate species
for no reason other than the pleasure of their company. Why?
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Jenn Vesperman http://www.simegen.com/~jenn/
************
[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linuxchix.org
