Born to be (a female) geek
My good friend Helga kindly translated her Born to be geek essay into English (the original was written in German).
This text of Helga’s is funny. But it’s not only that. What it says is too true.
[...] Often the following is your chat-up line: “Hey, I saw you at the lecture today. How come that a girl studies Computer Science?” We are in the 21st century, aren’t we? Why is it so amazing that there really are girls studying Computer Science?
So go and read it and have a good laugh. And then, please, come back and tell me, what is so strange about women tinkering with computers?
(BTW, Helga is also a talented artist. The cartoon here is one of her depictions of herself for her ‘My perfect day’ page.)
9 comments
u ana and helga think a guy will approach u if u are sitting in a lecture on computer related issues. well that would NOT be me, because in the same way u give sarcastic comments about some realities around u so do the men u make fun of, if u are nice exceptions doesnt mean that the other 90% cannot do anything u can, in the same way u make the same mistake, making fun of the 90% maybe that talk to u in that lecture and so on. poor anyway, i would call u for feminist-like anyway, because u are still very proud of yourselves and using it against men. u use the typical example of sex oriented and trying to show off men against the ones that use the typical example against u of dull girls that have nothing to do with computers.
the article sucks a bit, it would be better not to give any comment about those stupid things that are in the society even if u can laugh at them.
i had no much fun reading it. sorry from a man that would try to impress u at the lecture hall …
Well I thought that it was funny. But I must say that if I ever saw Helga again I might think twice about saying hi. As regards Ana, well, what can I say.
Well, nice to see that my article causes some discussion. Actually I thought it is pretty obvious that my article is a satire. What else do satires than pointing on some funny/extraordinary/annoying/whatnot features that of course not 100% percent of the object/group/person spoken of fulfills. People who know more about me (or can read the other german parts of my homepage), know that I am not at all offensive against male geeks. Actually I like them. I spend a lot of time with them and a wrote more than one article about their features that I like. Maybe I should translate them as well. Anyway, a satire does not need to be taken too serious – as far as I think. Helga
I am surprised to see this strong reactions here. It is always nice to get some feedback, so thanks for sharing your opinions, friends.
What Helga said: it is a satire, and it is not meant to be taken too seriously.
I am afraid that I will have to disagree with something Mauro said:
it would be better not to give any comment about those stupid things that are in the society
Why not? If there is something we don’t like, shouldn’t we try to change it? It is clear that the low numbers of women in computing (and other disciplines) have negative consequences for everybody. Is it wrong to draw attention to this issue? I think not. Rising awareness of the problem is the first step to solving the problem.
Ronan, I am glad to hear that at least on male geek had some little fun reading the article. I hope, though, that you don’t stop talking to geek girls because of it.
That would be too bad!
I agree completely with Ana and I also hope that Ronan does not stop talking to geek girls. And by the way: sometimes we geek girls take advantage from the fact that you geek guys come and approach us
So don’t be too deterred from talking to us just because of my article …
sometimes we geek girls take advantage from the fact that you geek guys come and approach us
Don’t give out our secret!
Your numbers are dropping!
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=Why-Women-Leave-I-T-&story_id=31000
Interesting article. Thanks!
i don’t consider helgas article to be feministic, rather as an fair offer to end that annoying gender-thing. it’s like “ok, we don’t care about women-quotas, special women courses, girlsday etc. but in return we demand that everybody considers our interest in computers and general geekdom as that matter of course, that was intended by the actions above.” i like this attitude, it shows self-esteem (its just what daria would say) and a good basis to get along with each other without the tension introduced by the penis-flag.
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