this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2025
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I don't understand the "computer girl" one, did the technician think that her being a woman meant she was doing computer science instead of physics?
I'm not sure of the timeframe of this, but it could be referring to the time when calculations were done by women by hand: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Computers
could be referring to "mad men" era secretaries as ibm era computers were just better fancier word processors/typewriters
edit: or maybe like IT helpdesk staff who are like janitors (i.e. they don't see a difference between calling environmental services for a clogged toilet vs IT for a bricked computer)
That's still big brain though
They were paid basically minimum wage, so they weren't treated the best. They were doing important work, and I personally have a lot of respect for it, but it was (and still is) an uphill battle against sexism.
If a man told you he worked with computers, it'd be odd to raise an eyebrow and respond "Are you some kind of computer boy?". The technician treated this woman's work as something special because she was a woman. In other words: A man that works with a computer is still just a man. A woman that works with a computer must be something special, a computer girl.
And bonus points for calling her a girl, which is just a little bit more infantilizing.