Introduction

Greetings all!

I am a senior and History of Art major. I am from a divorced family. My dad and stepmom and little brother and sister live in Texas, while I lived with my mom and brother in South Carolina. I never really took an interest in gender, until I am came to Bryn Mawr. It had always been there, but I had never really thought much about it. I think this class will be interesting, since I have never thought of relating gender to technology.  When we talked about the two subjects in class, the first thing that came to my mind was video games.  I used to play them all the time. when I was young, but at some point I grew out of them.  My brother, however, began playing them more as he got older.  The games themselves also changed. I remember liking to play the mario and race car games, but my brother began to enjoy the sports and violent war games, and I became less interested in video games in general.  Now, I see the same thing happening in my much younger brother and sister. I wonder if it is because they make more sports and war games, today than race car and mario brothers ones? It seems like the games themselves are dividing in gender.  I was just wondering if others have drawn similar conclusions.  

We also talked about in class how gender is created via clothing. I remember as a child not wanting wear a dress to certain formal events, but I am not sure if my choice had anything to do with gender. I think it had more to do with not wanting to be in a formal outfit, because I did have the choice of wearing nice pants with a blouse or sweater. I question whether it was the clothing that re-enforces the gender stereotypes or whether it was how we were treated by others in a particular costume. All of my questions coming into the course concern how gender is formed. I am curious to learn about how technology and gender intersect, especially older technology. I really look forward to this class and learning different points-of-view on the topic.