Hiya.
I think the problem is that the script kiddie route is such a common entry
point for more interesting hacking (no, not cracking) and other stuff.
I think my story is probably common: any interest I had in computers was
drummed out of me at two schools - I didn't get into programming until I
was 20 because of the effect of my peers during my teens.
And it's definitely not just boys that are the problem, but a lot of boys
can at least escape the usual bullying nerdy kids get by linking up with
others. Girls just can't do that. They get rejected by the conformist
kids, all the pressure to be a barbie doll, and their natural peers are
either male (and at that age we all know what that usually means) or
female and just as terrified of making contact.
I think there are two problems that need solving in two different ways.
The easy to identify one is a society wide sexism, which thank god, is
beginning to be attacked. At 24 I face little overt or even indirect
sexism, and see healthy teenagers with less of the shite I had to face,
and more time and energy for more interesting problems.
The second problem is an immediate issue of geek girls feeling alone and
being abandoned. Whatever we hear about geeks being antisocial introverts,
it simply isn't true. As esr wrote in the cathedral and the bazaar a lot
of open source software development can be traced to gaining peer approval
(as well as the scratch an itch stuff). The effect our peers have on
shaping us is both well researched and depressingly strong. On an
individual level the idea that those poor lasses are still suffering as I
think many of us did/still do is appauling. And this is even forgetting
the wider issues of a society losing half of its potential.
And here at least we can all do something - indeed are doing something -
linuxchix. :) In this, and hopefully other similar projects, girls can
find somewhere safe and encouraging to grow into the women they want to
be.
I dunno - to me it just seems writing this whole thing off as "who wants
to be involved in these criminal activities anyway" is ignoring what we
all went through. At a certain age that's totally what seems the most
exciting way of exploring these things that seem interesting. I don't
agree with a national army either, but would support totally anyone's
right to join up on an equal basis dependant on skills and potential, not
arbituary factors such as gender, race or sexuality.
Regards,
ae
--
"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage."
Anais Nin
Public Key : http://www.sei.ukshells.co.uk/pubkey.txt
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