Why girls in geek?

Female geeks no longer have to hide behind bulky t-shirts and bad hair cuts. Yea, some of us still have those but it's a choice, not as a result of trying to hide our femininity. When we go to cons we generally have other girls and some guys willing to watch our backs. So why, you may ask, would I start a blog about this subset of geek culture? Are we not equal?

The fact is, no, we aren't. We're still largely out numbered, and many guys (and girls) out there believe that "geek" is no place for a lady. This becomes especially apparent in the "hard" branches of geekdom, where girls are still told No, you can't do this.

To see how out numbered we are, I'll share some stats I came across while poking around CAD. Blind Ferret is the parent company behind a number of webcomics (listed below), and runs their advertising for them. One of the stats listed is the % of readers who are male. You may be surprised.

Ctrl-Alt-Del: 88.6% male
VG Cats: 87.3% male
8-Bit Theater: 91.2% male
Least I Could Do: 83.6% male
Looking For Group: 85.9% male

Pretty crazy eh!

(information found here)

Many guys are cool with having girls around, and are capable of behaving like rational human beings in our presence. However, this is not always the case. We have to deal with stalkers, unwanted attention, and actual threats to our safety, just because we want to enjoy a typically "male" activity.

I know this goes both ways, ask the guy in nursing school, or the male gynecologist, and they will tell you how much they have to put up with. But this is about geeks, and there, the Y chromosome still rules.

Jen