I love good quality sci-fi, and even some of the not-so-good stuff. Some of my favourite viewing is sci-fi from the Star Trek genre, expecially the Voyager series with Kathryn Janeway and Seven of Nine.
Hope and possibilities
When I was a child in the 60s the original Star Trek offered me worlds of hope and excitement, possibilities of change, and a universe to explore. Between Star Trek and the Apollo space program there were no limits to what humans could do (in the best possible way).
I think the world would be a much better place if it had more sci-fi.
The sci-fi barrier
I’m not a typical woman, it seems (as if I didn’t know that already). Sci-fi paraphernalia may be keeping some women away from fields such as computer science, as a recent study seems to show:
In the first experiment, students entered a small classroom that either contained objects stereotypically associated with computer science such as Star Trek posters, video game boxes and Coke cans, or non-stereotypical items such as nature posters, art, a dictionary and coffee mugs. The students were told to ignore these objects because the room was being shared with another class. After spending several moments in the classroom, the students filled out questionnaires that asked about their attitude toward computer science.
Women exposed to the stereotypical setup expressed less interest in computer science than those who saw the non-stereotypical objects. Men placed in the same situations did not show a similar drop in interest in computer science.
[Via : Of girls and geeks: Environment may be why women don't like computer science.]
As I read more about the study I kept looking for reasons to fault the researchers’ conclusions, but the evidence mounted. Sadly, further experiments all supported the initial conclusion:
“These studies suggest objects such as science fiction books and Star Trek posters communicate whether or not a person belongs in an environment.”
No boundaries for good or ill
Afterthought: sci-fi and the space program in the 60s and 70s seemed to remove all boundaries preventing us humans achieving our greatest potential. In this millenium, crime shows such as CSI and real-life security measures seem to show we humans have no boundaries in achieving the worst we can do.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Perhaps if they had more up to date Sci-Fi there would have been a change, seriously star-trek is old and outdated. Try Stargate where most of the main characters are powerful woman or something
As for this part
“82 percent of the women picked the team with the non-stereotypical workroom.”
I believe anyone would not want your typical cubical or boring workroom! guys or girls lol
For what it’s worth, I would be biased against working in a place with Star Trek posters too.
My experience is that the level of Star Trek fetishism is inversely proportional to the level of actual competence in computer science. Those who buy every Trek item out there are also likely to latch on to and fetishize some particular aspect of things that don’t actually matter, such as overclocking&coolers, case-modding, gold plated oxygen-free tapered audio cables, or MHz-is-everything. They are also likely to either think that Windows is the best thing ever or else be a member of the -O9 -funroll-loops gentoo cult. Ok, to be fair I’ve met one or two Mac users like that too (JMB), but they are a small minority.
Please don’t confusing enjoying the shows as being the same as fetishizing it. I enjoyed the earlier shows too, until I got totally turned off by the deus ex machina episodes with the holodeck and the jewish caricature (the Ferengi).
Good points, Liz, about the typical cubicle.
I have also been a fan of Stargate, but it doesn’t have *that* many women…
Bruce, I feel soooo dim: I’ve never made the connection between Ferengi and Jewish people….
Good points about fetish vs enjoyment.
As for Deus ex Machina – well, so many shows have that element of ‘magic’, from CSI and its ability to zoom in on reflections in car windows using crummy security cameras, to super-geniuses like Samantha Carter in Stargate.
Try Stargate Atlantis ?
Unfortunately a lot of woman get into tech and IT because they want to be the only woman in an all man world. They pretend to know a lot about IT but in reality only know small things , equivalent of minimizing/maximizing windows, using facebook or trademe etc. This makes most woman who are actually career IT woman look less smart.
Apparently being a Computer Geek now means being able to use a computer, its no longer the honor it used to be, reserved for those with above average knowledge about computers. That goes for Guys and Girls
Oh, that’s just sad.
I’ve watched a bit of Stargate Atlantis. Should get around to the rest of it sometime…
Interesting topic, great comments and sobering afterthought. Also a child of the ’60s, I grew up on the BBC’s earlyDoctor Who shows (the first four Doctors) and Quatermass dramas – as well as the imported (to the UK) shows like Star Trek and Time Tunnel. Like many, I suspect that the boundary-nudging aspects of Gene Rodenberry’s show, like the oft-citied first inter-racial kiss in ‘Plato’s Stepchildren’, blinded me to the steroetyping and more traditional elements.
As for the experiment, I wonder what the results would have been had the researchers added a third environment including the faded printouts of BOFH stories, Dilbert strips & XKCD cartoons. This is the typical natural habitat of those ersatz-geeks like our beloved IT department, who represent the ‘we’re all blokes whose attitudes and behaviours (not to mention computing skills, knowledge and policies) are stuck firmly in the ’80s’ demographic.
On a related side note: when a colleague at the next desk sneezes, he makes a noise that is almost identical to a TIE fighter on a strafing run. Just before Christmas, when we were in a more light-hearted mood than normal (for we are sacrificial lambs going to SuperCity slaughter), I pointed this out. All the men – but just one woman – laughed and nodded knowingly.
Well, Buzz, the stereotyping was a given back in the 60s and 70s. In fact, Uhura being female was a big break through at the time.
For me, as a girl child, it was a thrill to see a woman on the bridge of a spaceship. It sure wasn’t happening in the Apollo program. Didn’t stop my youthful dream to be an astronaut though (even though life stopped it eventually).
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