Girls and computers

[Platypus]

Over 91% of Computing A level candidates are male. I'd expect a male bias, but 91%?!?

Men are wired different, basically they have a tendency toward autistic traits (Aspergers)

Kathryn Stewart, director of the Orion Academy, a high school for high-functioning kids in Moraga, California, calls Asperger's syndrome "the engineers' disorder." Bill Gates is regularly diagnosed in the press: His single-minded focus on technical minutiae, rocking motions, and flat tone of voice are all suggestive of an adult with some trace of the disorder.

Autistic people have a hard time multitasking - particularly when one of the channels is face-to-face communication. Replacing the hubbub of the traditional office with a screen and an email address inserts a controllable interface between a programmer and the chaos of everyday life. Flattened workplace hierarchies are more comfortable for those who find it hard to read social cues. A WYSIWYG world, where respect and rewards are based strictly on merit, is an Asperger's dream.

A recurring theme in case histories of autism, going all the way back to Kanner's and Asperger's original monographs, is an attraction to highly organized systems and complex machines.

Clumsy and easily overwhelmed in the physical world, autistic minds soar in the virtual realms of mathematics, symbols, and code. Asperger compared the children in his clinic to calculating machines: "intelligent automata" - a metaphor employed by many autistic people themselves to describe their own rule-based, image-driven thought processes.

Wired 9.12: The Geek Syndrome

Whereas you'll find I'm perfectly normal

[SueEllen]

Men are wired different, basically they have a tendency toward autistic traits (Aspergers)

I was reading a debate about that somewhere else. Some people (including researchers in the area) believe there are more women with autistic traits but hide it well. While others believe that autistic traits are "normal" but are only noticed more now because differences are highlighted more in society.

Anyway as stated there use to be a lot of female programmers around. I found it funny finding out that some of my mates' mums where good with the old punch cards..........

[MarillionFan]

Left school in '80, still no computers. By '81 doing rather well in DP, thank you!

Double penetration?

Kinky.

[darmstadt]

Double penetration?

Kinky.

Yep, got a stereo dick...