Gender and Computers: An Observation

So, this is a situation that has been bothering me for at least the past year, if not past two years. I've done a lot of observation regarding this bizarre phenomenon, and I don't have a satisfactory answer.

Basically, what I've seen is that, as a stereotype, most females and non-straight males do not get along well with computers. DISCLAIMER: I am assuming that non-straight males fall under the same category as females throughout my mini-rant. This is merely to simplify the text both for me and for you. Now, onto my... dissertation into insanity!

Why do women and non-straight men not get along well with computers? What is it about computers that only pull in geeky guys, most of whom are straight? Of course, I fit that stereotype perfectly myself. I'm a geeky Computer Science/Interactive Multimedia major. I spend over 40 hours a week coding, staring, surfing the Internet, and playing games, all with my computer. In fact, as I write this blog post, I'm in Holman Hall, working on building an Artificial Intelligence that will hopefully be able to semi-intelligently play the game of Checkers.

But honestly, who cares about me in this case? I fit the stereotype, and no one thinks differently. About me, at least. That's an entirely different rant, and totally not related to this class at all.

One study I've read (I think it was a study? Long time ago) stated that women shy away from Math, Computers, etc... "the Sciences"... because they assume that those fields take too much time, and many women, as per the study, want to take the time to have a family. Obviously, having a job in one of those fields will take time away from said family, keeping women from working in "the Sciences."

Now, that's a funny observation from that study. I know for a fact that our class has a female Physics Ed major and a female Chemistry major. Clearly, the study isn't all-inclusive.

Another article I've read states that computers are "too technical" for women. The amount of effort necessary to truly understand an operate a computer is much more than they are willing to expend that effort to be a part of the industry. Well, let's be honest. Most straight males are in the same boat, so I can't imagine that there can't be a certain percentage of women who are into computers.

It's true, there are female Computer Science majors. There's one in my graduating class, two or three in the successive graduating class... and that's where I no longer have any idea about the numbers. Percentage-wise, that does NOT get anywhere CLOSE to the sex distribution of TCNJ.

And quickly, to point out why I lumped non-straight males into the "female" category for this rant, I will simply say this. After mentally reviewing all of the class lists of my previous and current CS courses, I can honestly say that I highly doubt any of the males in the classes (some classes were solely male) identified as anything but straight. Weirdly enough (to kill another stereotype), most had steady girlfriends. Go figure.

Really, what it comes down to is the fact that I have NO idea why this phenomenon exists. And throughout it all, I can't ignore the fact that the CS Faculty ratio is approximately 60:40, females:males. Just like TCNJ averages.

So, I leave it to you. What are your thoughts on this?