Computer Grrrlz

By Kari -

“A Virtual Room of One’s Own” was pretty interesting, it had never occurred to me that almost all activities associated with girls were in the home. As a girl I did play outside a lot but I spent a lot of time in the home, baking, reading, talking on the phone, going online, watching TV, painting my nails, ect. I would agree that personal homepages do reflect a girls room. I volunteered for Perverted Justice which is an anti-pedophile association, and a lot of what I did involved myspace and creating a “girl’s” myspace. We of course kept all person and specific information out and pedophiles were still attracted to their web sites. Looking at real young girl’s web pages was almost scary, it was obvious of their age, they sometimes listed their school or the mall they liked to hang out in. It was pretty representative to the reading, bright colors, pictures of their favorite pop stars, animals, neo pets, and comments like the guestbook function.

My little sister that I am mentoring told me about her website the first time I met her and she wrote down the link for me to check out. Her mom helped her create it and helped her write and upload everything she wanted to put on. It had a homepage that noted this was a place for friends to hang out. It had links to pictures which had cute animals, and funny pictures you find on the internet. She also has a section for videos which include the Jonas Brothers, High School Musical and Hannah Montana. Knowing a young girls on the internet made me realize how much stuff there is online for young girls. Some of the sites I think are great, but all the social networking and fan sites I can’t help but find inappropriate. Why do young girls need to spend so much time online? There are so many things going on in real life they are missing out on. Perhaps this is a reason for social problems, when you socialize online a lot its very different to socialize in real life.

I thought the article about Girls Club computer classes in Ghana was great. Teaching a good skill to girls who have trouble graduating was helping their leadership skills. I think it was important to teach them the skills as well as let them have fun, but without incorporating things they didn’t need. They magazine they all made together was great, it not only used their computer skills but it collaborated a group of women’s thoughts and ideas together. Taking them to see computers in the workplace was really cool too because it shows where this is applied in real life and can give them a goal to strive to. I’m also really impressed the author was a male and though apprehensive had the courage to start and run the girl’s club.

Braincake at first appeared to me as the same girls website, but I was really excited to see it was a math and science partnership for girls. I’ve never really seen a site like this, it had links to cool programs for girls with stuff to do that was all related to math or science. Its links were to scientific websites like bayer making science make sense. I really thought it was cool that have like a little scholarship for making your dreams happen by participating in a program you might not be able to afford. I think this site is a really good idea, it has the appearance of other sites girls like but information that has a lot more substance than how to make your hair look good.

I also thought engineer girl was a really cool site, I never even thought about engineering until I met my boyfriend who is majoring in civil. I went to a few of his classes with him over summer and I was kind of surprised to see male dominated classes, all of my classes are mostly female so I wasn’t used to this. I never saw a girl raise their hand or ask questions either. I realized I didn’t know much about engineering but there are soooooo many careers available I thought this should be something more girls are into. I think the large amounts of math and science may intimidate many girls. This site was all about why you would want to be an engineer and how to get on track to become one. If this is something I saw as a young girls I would have thought this was really cool and something I wanted to do.

Comments

۞ Lauren said…
I agree that girls need to spend less time on the internet. When online, I am bombarded with advertisements telling me I am too fat, not wearing the latest fashion, my hair color is wrong, and that I need this make-up to be pretty, ect. I danced for 8 years and then played soccer. I know my self-esteem was very high during these times, especially when we won against a team of boys. Playing outside, joining after school clubs, or playing sports are great ways for young girls to feel self-worth.
October 4, 2008 at 12:33 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Film Review

By -
Film Review: Mean Girls Written by Elizabeth Nesbitt This film was written by Tina Frey and Rosalind Wiseman in 2004. This movie deals with several girl issues family, friendships, body image and popularity. The movie begins with Cady played by Lindsay Lohan who had been home schooled in Africa. Her family moved to America in her senior year where she had to attend public high school. When Cady starts school she knows nothing about cliques. The first friends Cady encounters are known as the “Artsy freaks.” Cady then meets the “Plastics” a group of popular, gossiping, shopping, glamorous girls who see themselves as inferior to the other girls in school. Cady starts hanging out with the plastics, when she is really spying for her artsy freak friends. In Africa Cady had a good relationship with her parents and they enjoyed spending time together. Moving to America and attending public school Cady violates her parents trust by lying and having parties. Cady transforms into a plastic, fake
Read more

Maiden, Mother and Crone by Vianny Nunez

By -
Image
  Maiden   Soft, sweet , and silent.   She is youthful , desired by all.    She wears long, beautiful gowns. Awaiting the hand of someone who’s strong and tall.   “A lady only speaks when spoken to.”   Words that have worn her ears before she could lace her own shoes.    “ Don’t eat so much, a lady must always watch her figure.”      The maiden’s first trigger.    You see, she’s been trained and groomed to fit the needs of men.   Before she could even reach the age of ten.    Men are blessed with strength and glor y when they'r e born.    Women? We’re cursed with beauty and immediate scorn.   You want us to fit perfectly into your ideals.    But we’d rather swim with eels.    There is more to her than what you can see.   Have you even asked about her hobbies?   Yes, she can cook and clean,    but she can also create literary scenes .    She aims to soar beyond the trees.   We crave to do what we please,   Without begging for permission from a man on our knees.     
Read more

The G[r]ay Area Between Female Friendship & Sexuality

By -
Image
Heteronormativity is a strange, but powerful thing. When a little girl and little boy play together, adults will project these odd notions onto them, making jokes about a future romance between the children. However, when two girls play together, it isn’t likely the same remarks will be made about their relationship. In Susan Shaw and Janet Lee's chapter on Sex and Intimacy, they detail that sexual scripts “provide frameworks and guidelines for sexual feelings and behaviors in a particular community at a particular time” and marks a crucial note that “foundational in these scripts is the oppositional binary of heterosexuality and homosexuality that constructs normative sexuality and shapes sexual feelings and expression” (281). This social construction, of course, manages to ooze into our media, specifically in its representation of female friendship. As a bisexual woman with many gay friends, a frequent topic of conversation is the almost obligatory heterosexuality among female fr
Read more