@~This is almost the last of JJ's back-log of articles! Computers and The Sexes by James Judge Here I was. Having just put the finishing touches to a new Captive map, written part four and five of my RPG guide type thingy and written a letter I was left with a Sunday evening with not much to do apart from listen to the REM concert on 1FM (it hasn't started well - they're late and the DJ who's presiding has decided to play one of the worst singles out at the moment - Blur's latest, oh dear). So, loading up Windows I decided to have a quick look over past issues of SynTax to reminisce over past memories. I decided to look at the 'How I Started Adventuring' series that was running a few issues back and soon became enthralled in people's past experiences and conquests once again. In fact I'm still waiting for Sue to tell us her story from her misty murky past (I'm sure running SynTax hasn't jumbled up the old memory too much...)... @~Coincidentally, there's a bit of my murky past in THIS issue! It was while I was reading Jean Childs' article that got me thinking yet again. She said this: "The man in the shop, while busily packing it up, turned to the children and said "Is this for you?". "Actually" said my husband "it's for my wife." The man looked at me and said "Now that's strange. I thought you'd prefer a washing-machine." Now let me just say - I am not a feminist. The point I am making here is that I was not at all put out or shocked by this statement. Well, maybe a tad put out. The reason I was not shocked was that I was used to reading computer magazines that were completely male-orientated." The question that sprang to my mind was whether the computer industry was still male-dominated and whether it would ever change? Oh yes, as this article is going to be all about sexual equality and stuff like that I'd better do a small disclaimer at this point just so I don't wake up and find some flaming bras being nailed to my front door (not that feminists do this kind of thing, of course ). Anyway, in here there will be some of my own personal views (naturally) but there will also be a lot of other people's and things that I've read and seen for myself. So, if I say all the women I've seen using computers are hopeless at it I'm not using this as a broad, sweeping statement for all women (just the majority... ). Likewise, if I say all men are sexist, beer-swilling louts I'm not talking about the majority here (just Mongoose). On the face of it it seems as if the computer industry is becoming more equal. True, males still rule, but more and more females are getting into computers, and with the Internet cropping up there is now an outlet for the feminine need to socialise - even if it is via a computer and 'phone lines. In more male-orientated magazines such as PC Zone you still get the regular letter written by a female saying how they 'love your masculine style. It makes such a refreshing change from the ordinary magazines. Keep up the quotient of two swear words and three sexual innuendoes every second sentence. It makes computing so much more accessible'. Even in regular mags there seems to be more and more female readers who are no longer scared of writing in as "confused of England" and now use their real names. More and more women are getting priority jobs on the production side of the magazines too. PCW has a couple of female sub-editors, PC Format has just gotten a new female editor (who used to edit ST Format) and more and more seem to be taking a more active and hands-on part of computing (instead of just making the tea for the guys who do all the nitty- gritty stuff...). Oh, and let's not forget the fact that SynTax wouldn't even have been around without a certain woman's hard work (whoever that is...). @~??? But, I say that the reality of things is still very different from this rose-tinted view of gradual sexual equality. At the moment I'm doing my A' levels and a couple of the courses I'm taking involve heavy use of the computer. This means that most people in the 6th form now know I'm a competent computer user. This knowledge has now led to many long discussions by me and fellow students about various computery things, from the latest games to new pieces of hardware and computer problems we've all experienced. But, these people I talk to are all male and, in fact, the majority of competent computer users in my 6th form are male. And I thought we were in the age group at the forefront of the computer revolution where we're all plugged in and 'surfing the Internet', happy using any new computer hardware that crops up and being 'into' things like cyberspace etc. with sexual equality being part of it. Gone is the sad geek who secretes himself in a room for hours on end, tapping in endless listings trying to get the computer to go 'BEEP' and in is the hip dude who isn't ashamed of pronouncing his computer literacy and enjoys twiddling with Windows. Allegedly. That's not to say that there aren't any females who are happy using a computer, it's just that most of them would prefer to use the things as little as possible, viewing them as a means of getting a few extra presentation marks on an essay or presentation and those who do use the computer regularly are like fish out of water whenever a new program is added to the network. Cries for help in a feminine tone can often be heard when programmes do unexpected things too (ie a bug surfaces "Why does 2.01-2=0?"). So, it's obvious that the females of my generation aren't entirely happy with the hunks of plastic that reside in our block of the school. In fact, some loath them so much they won't even touch the keyboards as they believe they'll break something, or the computer will eat all their work which they have painstakingly typed in. What about other generations? University students are the next age-group up, and still we are presented with a mainly male-dominated society. From the unis I've looked around and heard of, all the IT staff and lecturers are men who look as if they've just stepped from the set of the Open University and most of the students I've seen are males, so this elusive equality is lacking there. After studentdom we can't really segregate age-groups of the general public as there are fewer and fewer places where you'll get a lot of people of the same age working and socialising together. But, walk into any Dixon shop and you'll see how older generations are accepting computers. All the staff who know anything about computers are men, the only females being called Tina and they know you can have a window in your computer if you want to, but you could also have a couple of doors and play CDs if you have enough ramming ability. Pardon? Then there are the shoppers. If a lone woman comes in on her own she's treated with kid-gloves and is patronised to something rotten (of course if she's wearing a short enough skirt then she'll be dribbled over, unless Tina is serving her then she'll be confused to death!). A couple who are haplessly sucked in by the 'flashy' rolling demos running on the computers will be grabbed by a sales assistant (not Tina this time as they're probably serious customers looking for a system to help their little Jimmy with his school work) and then the male is conversed to while the female of the pair is left to remark on the horrid colour of the computers about the store (and on this point I'm inclined to agree. Why can't we have sexy black computers, or patterned ones instead of these beige monstrosities that only match the monitor and the mouse and look boring and show up dirt something rotten?). So, in Dixons and other high street stores women are still excluded from this elitist boys club. This is even more prevalent in small specialist computer shops, where the staff are all male, beer swilling louts who couldn't dilute techno-babble if you paid them (well, they obviously can't - they're being paid already to get as many customers as possible and this involves watering down techno-babble which they just don't do). They even patronise and act all high-and-mighty over relatively computer literate people like me who spurt enough techno-babble to make them pause now and again... But, there are definitely females out there who are happy with computers and can use them with complete confidence - from my mum to Sue, Jean and a whole host of ladies I could name. But they still aren't as noticeable and don't get as much respect as the men of this world do when it comes to computers. So, how can we resolve this inequality of the sexes? Personally I think it will never happen to the degree I (and I'm sure most of you) would like it to. First off there is the simple acceptability of the computer in its current form - it's just unacceptable to the masses (and this will form the basis of another article by moi...) in its beige plastiky hunk with IRQ conflicts, incompatibilities, quirky RAM configurations and everything else we, as current users, happily accept. This means that not as many female users will be enticed into computing and, so, there will never be a large enough user base. Secondly we need to disband this outdated idea of the 'boys club'. This idea is typified by someone I know. He is the true boffin cum geeky nerd, sitting in a room forever fiddling with pointless programs he has created to do pointless things. He'll let anyone gaze over his shoulder but he'll only explain what is happening to the guys who come stumbling in to print out some work. He was trying to explain to me the complexities of fractal generation in complete mathematical detail, and I'm not a brilliant mathematician. But he won't go into too much detail with any females who stumble in as well - he just says it generates pretty pictures and this one on the screen isn't all that brilliant. Let's forget the fact that they are more mathematically minded than either I or he, it's 'cos they're females he won't explain what's going on. No, that's left to my potted guide which is normally wrong... So, let's leave burning the bras and start burning our parallel leads for greater computer equality between the sexes. Oh yes!!!!!! @~This article is about a year old now (SORRY, JAMES! I listened @~to that concert too last summer and it was excellent) and I @~wondered how things have changed in that time. On a similar @~topic, I've near enough given up reading glossy computer games @~mags because of their double standard attitudes - many started @~off with a nudge-nudge attitude (the sort James mentioned above) @~but then things changed and they now have a 'we won't be sexist' @~attitude in part of the mags and then they blatantly plaster 18+ @~CD ads in another section. I go to several regular local @~computer fairs and have noticed very few women as purchasers but @~a large number manning (or should that be 'personning'?) the @~stalls. I have rarely been talked down to by anyone serving in a @~computer shop but as I'm often 15-20 years older than them, I @~don't think they'd dare, hehe. But I am still not much more @~technically-minded than I was when I had my first computer. @~Use 'em, yes, open 'em up and add bits, nope ... Sue - o -