Selfe Page 309-322 Summary

In the paragraphs starting from page 309 and ending on page 322. Selfe is talking about a narrative she has revised called the Same Old Gendered Stuff. How these narratives are used in advertising such as a woman's traditional role of beauty and seductress or the traditional role of men outside of the workplace. These are roles that Americans see reflected in their culture. These roles exist and have for a very long time and continue to be reproduced throughout advertisement when technology is involved. Because of this Selfe claims that it is difficult for Americans to find new opportunities to relate to each other and make positive changes. To make positive changes it would take careful thinking, but its easier for Americans to rely on what they already know. Selfe claims that a good English curriculum may help students-the future of America with the critical thinking required to move our population toward progress.

At the beginning of page 306 Selfe states, "...fewer women enter the advanced fields of computer science than to males, that the computer industry continues to be a space inhabited by and controlled primarily by male." I understand that Selfe wrote this in 1999 and that perhaps she was only speaking about Americans. In an article also published in 1999 by a man named Bill Schackner claims that year the participation of women in Carnegie Mellon University's computer science degrees had increased to 37%. Other schools reported that the number of female students earning advanced computer science degree had doubled.

I myself am an intermediate programmer. I'm fluent in programs like Adobe products (CS), Javascript, Maya (3D Animation), Corel, etc. I can also build a computer on my own with hardware from Newegg. I am self taught through Google lol. Playing on and fixing computers is my hobby. Along with the hobbies of many of my female friends who can run entire servers. Because of this I agree that there may still be fewer women in the field but I believe that its beginning to even out.