I’ve never been your typical girl. Always good in math but shit in english, a girl gammer and, once I hit my adult years, a girl programmer. I know I’ve already broken “Feminist Rule #1″ by calling myself a girl but I actually like the term. Girl. Grrrl. I find it very empowering.

I’ve also never really gotten any shit from guys because I’m a girl in “their world”. I’ve heard stories of girl gamers getting ignored or made fun of in gaming stores but the places I go just treat me like any other gamer, asking if I know about the newest games out, if I’ve played this or that. No biggie. Obviously I’ve run into those few assholes in online games asking if they could fuck me, but I must admit they’re pretty few and far between. I usually just change channels and move on.

I’ve also never gotten anything but support from the programming community. In fact, what I’ve heard most often is that they wished there were more females in the field. Maybe it’s the atmosphere of the internet. Here people are just people, you can’t see a face or body type and people only know your sex if you want them to. Maybe that makes for a more level playing ground. I knew there was some reason I’ve always loved technology!

Now, where I have experienced sexism is in the real world by your “average” usually slightly older person. Those who fight so hard to fit into societies norms, which naturally include fixed gender roles. The snarky jokes, women don’t listen, men don’t ask for directions, and neither of us know what the hell the other is talking about. So, just because we have different genitals we’re not supposed to know how to communicate? I think my husband and I communicate quite well. That may be because we don’t expect the other to have any kind of specified behavior simply based on our sex. People need to forget about the sex of the person they’re talking to and just listen to the person.

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