The H Line

An article in Thursday’s New York Times attempts to use Pew Internet and American Life Project findings to disprove the dominant opinion that male geeks rule the web.

Its title: “Sorry, Boys, This is Our Domain.”

A more applicable one: “Girls Keep Creating Useless Shit While Boys Continue to Get Jobs and Make Money.”

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The article asserts that teenage girls are a significant rising force of content creation on the web, citing blogs, photos, social network profiles and “web pages” as the areas in which they excel. Those poor boys are left in the dust, surpassing girls’ numbers only in the creation of videos.

This new generation of female web devs is bringing exciting new developments to the table. Like “glitters.”

Let me say it again… Glitters.

OK, that’s not so useful. But surely someone among this “digitally effusive,” sparkle-obsessed crew is creating projects that are engaging and interesting. Heck, maybe they even defy age and gender stereotypes!

Other case examples: EmoGirlTalk.com and AGirlsWorld.com.

Friends, we have a problem here.

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Girls who jump the hurdles facing them in the tech world and create original content certainly deserve some props. There is nothing more life-affirming than rocking the entrepreneurial spirit, and I wish the best to all who do.

What I can’t wish them well for is using their talents toward the creation of content that reinforces the stereotypes that they had to in part subvert in order to get to where they are. Why are these girls stopping there?

“Women hold about 27 percent of jobs in computer and mathematical occupations, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”

This can’t possibly change if this new generation keeps on with its glittering. “I made Sallie’s MySpace page look totally cute! OMG!” is not going to do much for your resume. And neither is “I made this forum and it, like, totally helped Krystin get over her crush on Josh!”

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Page two goes on to discuss the difference in content being produced by boys and girls, and the psychological and social issues behind the disparities.

“From a young age they learn that they are objects, Professor Gill said, so they learn how to describe themselves. Historically, girls and women have been expected to be social, communal and skilled in decorative arts.

‘This would be called the feminization of the Internet,’ she said.

Boys, she added, are generally taught ‘to engage in ways that aren’t confessional, that aren’t emotional.’ “

Question: How many world-changing ventures can you name that are based around emotions and the decorative arts?

I can think of approximately zero.

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This connects well with a topic that’s cropped up in discussions with a number of friends: the limited capacity of the brain. Get ready for some fuzzy science…

When I’m using my brain to worry about what to wear in the morning, that is one little bit of energy and brainjuice (technical term, don’t worry about it) that I won’t be able to use when I’m approaching a more complex problem solving scenario at work.

These activities compound over time. So the person who is constantly tidying, or the person who is constantly fretting over relationships, or the person who just can’t go on unless he or she buys a new something to match an old something will find her or himself drained of physical and mental effort when it’s time to embark on endeavors that will help them move forward in the professional world.

Google something like “messy desk” and you’ll find “experts” proposing roughly the same thing.

Thinking this way, the woman’s absence from the workplace isn’t all that boggling. She’s not there because she’s using her skills, talent and energy toward “contributing craft ideas like how to decorate jeans.”

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But there is something deeper happening here, outside of the control of any individual girl.

While articles like this appear to celebrate the so-called achievements of these girls, they are doing little more than reinforcing the barriers that keep them sequestered in their shiny pink world.

What we need to do is drop this girl-as-social, girl-as-decorative, girl-as-motherly discussion altogether.

Stop referencing and recognizing phrases such as “girls and women have been expected to be social, communal and skilled in decorative arts.” We are all fully aware of the expectations that have gone along with being a woman for the past forever. Bringing up this “history” only serves to perpetuate it.

Drop it from the media and it will be dropped from our minds. Then maybe you, young ladies, can use your brainjuice to pursue traditionally non-girly interests and endeavors in a decidedly non-girly way. That I would respect.