No, they're not influenced by blogs, but they are influenced by family members/other adults telling them, "Oh no, you don't want to play with that, that's for boys." Some of us were lucky to have had parents that had no problem with us having fun with computers and video games (partially because my mom loved playing with our Intellivision :).

But there's still pressure and expectations on what kids play with. Girls get dolls - they've not been expected to play with video games and the like.

However (as the demographics are showing) - that is changing. Parents weren't into games, it was just a toy that happened to be part of the "boy" group. But they've grown up, and still play them. I was rare in that my Mom and Dad introduced me into video games and that helped spark my interest in computers. I have friends who are parents who ask their daughters if they want to try this game or that game. I can't imagine most of my friends' parents growing up doing that.

Will that shift us closer to a more balanced demographic in tech? I don't know, I'd like to hope that coming generations of women don't feel pushed away from the field due to really artificial or societal reasons.

ok, but do you get that the person you were responding to was a woman who didn't like how the blog was representing her?

do you get why I think it's weird that you dismissed her complaint because no 5-year-olds were present?

no, i had no idea the original commenter was a woman. she didn't say "i am a woman and i was offended" either, so you're putting words into her mouth.

the author of the original post Kelly Faircloth is a woman too. that also deflates the notion that the headline, picture, and phrasing in the text was sexist.

> the author of the original post Kelly Faircloth is a woman too. that also deflates the notion that the headline, picture, and phrasing in the text was sexist.

Women can be sexist against women. In fact, any member of a group may hold prejudices against that same group, even without realizing it or believing that they are engaging in that kind of behavior or attitude, so the gender of the article's author isn't really relevant as to whether or not this piece is sexist in this instance.

I normally wouldn't write a comment echoing something that's already been said, but I wanted to say thanks for writing this, and stress again to whoever else is reading this thread that this is a hugely important point that I think a lot of people miss. And as you pointed out, it can apply to any group prejudice, including gender, race, etc.

Just a quick heads up - I'm not actually a woman.