221–230 of 434 posts
Nitpick: I actually only started learning to program in university as an undergraduate (I was ~21). I have a female friend who had a similar start, so you don't necessarily have to start as a child. It's not gymnastics. The thrill of solving puzzles can be experienced at any time in your life, I think.
Otherwise, great article.
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When I was young, probably 12 or 13 I think, I saw a series of images of a spider bite on a mans thumb causing the thumb to swell, split open, go necrotic, and eventually require amputation. Did this damage me? No, I'm fine. I gagged when I saw the images, then I scrolled down and looked at some more. Lasting effects? Well today as an adult, I smash spiders when I see them. Not a big deal.
I disagree. I saw a ton of stuff I never should have seen at that age. It didn't scar me for life, but it's desensitized me to a lot of terrible things. Unless you're a doctor, I just don't think it's healthy to look at NSFL gore, go "meh", and move on to something else. I also occasionally have those images flash in my head. I don't want them there, but there's nothing I can do about that now. (Granted, the same thi…
>Young women don't magically become technologists at 22 I did exactly that. I have a degree in the arts, but always loved physics and pursued that secondarily. I failed physics because I had taken arts instead of mathematics but found that that didn't stop me learning C and building all the arts programs I ever wanted. Quite some years ago now and I was an outlier but it's not too uncommon. Good schools are now getti…
Ahh, but it wasn't magic...as you go on to say, the seeds were planted when you were young. "messing with radios and old VHS players" is a precursor to becoming a good technologist. It's not about what you played with, it's about early experiences of problem solving, of making and/or fixing and/or tinkering in any context.
No. I'm also not an world-class tennis player even though I played tennis since I was able to hold a racket and had good teachers. I just happen to be good at problem solving, making and fixing and tinkering. Most of friends who were at school who liked to build things also went on to have technical careers, just not with computer programming. So, I think that we are only starting to see a new generation coming up for whom computers aren't something they met when they were older, so there will start to be a lot more natural female programmers among them. In my generation it was rare for a father to take interest in a girl's technical inclinations, and I think I'm really lucky for that early experience. My point is that I just think this is a phase and a generation not far away won't face this gender discrepancy.
> Last year, his school offered a robotics class for girls only. When my son asked why he couldn't join, it was explained to him that girls need special help to become interested in technology, and that if there are boys around, the girls will be too scared to try. And that's why we can't use sexism to fight sexism (or mistakenly enforce the same composition of the general population on self-selected subsets).
I disagree. As a high schooler, I know many intelligent and creative young women who don't want to do robotics or programming because of the people in those fields. High school boys in tech are much more likely to be misogynistic and socially inept than other high schoolers are. They make girls uncomfortable (they make me uncomfortable too, and I'm not event the subject of their creepiness), and this discourages girl…
I'd honestly want a source on this. Socially inept, maybe.
But misogynistic? So, is your average jock some paragon of chivalry and philogyny?
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I disagree. I saw a ton of stuff I never should have seen at that age. It didn't scar me for life, but it's desensitized me to a lot of terrible things. Unless you're a doctor, I just don't think it's healthy to look at NSFL gore, go "meh", and move on to something else. I also occasionally have those images flash in my head. I don't want them there, but there's nothing I can do about that now. (Granted, the same thi…
Why do you think it's unhealthy?
As I said, I also sometimes see these images in my head. I don't want to have anything to do with them, but now they're impossible to get rid of.
Nice, complete misunderstanding of feminism and what most people argue for. Nice attacking of straw men. Nice rant for the status quo. I’m sad now.
There's no such thing as a "misunderstanding of feminism". Feminism hasn't been a coherent movement in decades. It's a highly stratified network of ideologies and schools, some of which are only vaguely united under the pretext of social justice, but which have radically different views. Some are even openly and proudly transphobic.
I'd like it if we stopped pretending feminism is some zenith of civil rights. It did help in the past, but it is now worn out and has long been a parody.
>Parents are warned to keep kids off the computer This point cannot be overstated. I'd never have been a hacker without vast quantities of unsupervised, unfiltered internet time around age 9-12. The largest enabling step for me was when I got my own laptop which I was free to break (software-wise) and free to take into my room so I could focus away from the distracting noises of the kitchen/living room. Much of even…
I don't agree. Having unlimited access to technological resources is great, I don't think anybody is denying that. But with unlimited net access also comes extremely violent videos, social networks with all kinds of shady types hanging around etc... I really don't think it's responsible to let a 9-12 yo alone on the net in their room. Enabling them to access the net easily while still supervising what they do, giving…
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I don't think that desensitization is an inherently bad thing. There are any number of things that people become desensitized to as they grow up. In this modern society, there are many adults who have never so much as seen a dead body (having never even gone to wakes). In previous generations, and in different societies, seeing dead bodies is common place and does not have the same power to disturb. Does it harm a ch…
Surely you would agree that there are limits, socially determined or otherwise? Would you be OK with your child seeing a motorcyclist's head blown off? A man's distended anus? There are no limits on the internet. I saw all these things because I didn't know any better, or because I was morbidly curious. It didn't ruin me or give me PTSD or anything, but it definitely shaped my personality. I regret it now, in my mid-…
Why exactly do you regret it?
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I don't know, a week of lost sleep seems like a pretty cheap price to pay for not growing up into the average "TV shows gory pictures of terrorists blowing up something? I now have PTSD and will vote for any measure that you say will make it less likely that my sensitive eyes are exposed to such revolting material again" member of the American electorate. I was left to roam the internet freely starting around age 10,…
From my observations, the effect of disturbing content seems to depend on the person. Some people see it, are disgusted by it and are largely unaffected. Some people (like myself), see it are disgusted by it and then are bothered by it for a long time. I've noticed that my son is the same way, so I tend to be very careful about what he sees. He's definitely more sheltered that some of his peers, but that's based on h…
If a child is afraid of swimming, most teachers would find it reasonable to keep pushing and gradually acclimatise them to the notion rather than give up and say they are just not cut out for it; why would whatever reasoning that underlies this not apply in the case of "disturbing content"?
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I've wanted to mention this for a while but the topic hadn't come up. My engineering faculty tried many things to get more girls in the program, including having girls-only events with the female dean. Of course, all students got these emails, and many of us guys were left wondering why we never had the chance to meet the dean in events like these. Excluding sometimes seems worse than the biases these programs aim to…
Excluding the more privileged sometimes seems worse than the bias which excludes the less privileged? That doesn't seem to make much sense to me.