[umbrai_nation]

I was an awkward kid with few friends, and turned to computers because they were fascinating and more fun than interacting with people.

Could be that people with [insert unusual trait here] are naturally drawn to computers for similar reasons, be they autistic, transgendered, disabled, or just plain weird.

[projektir]

> Could be that people with [insert unusual trait here] are naturally drawn to computers for similar reasons, be they autistic, transgendered, disabled, or just plain weird.

This seems reasonable.

But why the lack of biologically-born women? Surely they can be weird, too.

[khedoros1]

Maybe it's more like the weirder people are pushed away from things they find awkward. They're pushed to the easiest alternative. Social cues come into play; males are cued that technology is acceptable for them, females are cued that it isn't. More transgendered people than cisgendered people may not identify with those gender-based social cues, and disregard them.

What are those social cues? I don't know, in general. In my case, my father used the computer much more than my mother did. He built and maintained it. "Computer people" in the late 80s and early 90s were almost all male. My grandfather taught me, but not my sister, about electronics and soldering. My sister certainly played computer and video games, but not nearly as much as me or my brother.

[BearGoesChirp]

I can't back the statement right now and do not even remember where I read it, but I do remember reading that autism spectrum women (who are rarer than autism spectrum males) tend to be drawn to fantasy setting and express themselves in fan fiction far more often. It would be interested to see the gender breakdown in fan fiction and related interests.

[digi_owl]

Spending the afternoons with a computer also allows one to avoid more physical activities where one may not perform as well as ones peers.

[oxide]

seriously, my scrawny ass was never good at sports, I had one or two friends growing up at any given time until I was in highschool and starting smoking, which apparently made me cool enough to get to know.

before that, school was misery.

I spent many teenage hours in front of my computer, making friends, some 15 or so years long friendships were born during that time, people I still regularly talk to and spend time playing games with.

I discovered that I did have a skill, when I thought myself directionless and skill-free: I knew how to fix a computer, because I spent so much time troubleshooting my own issues.

Not only that, but when I moved to competitive gaming on my computer, I suddenly realized I was good at competition in some field.

Sure, it wasn't your traditional competitive outlet, but it was one I wasn't picked last in.

Games like Counter-Strike I could come out on top in and feel as if I just won the regional championships, the feeling the kids who were good at physical sports must have felt regularly.

I saw the appeal of regular sports, suddenly. The value of competition and watching someone so much more skilled than you could ever be play a sport at the absolute top-level.

I'm not disabled, transgendered, or anything else. Just a socially awkward red-head who spent most of my elementary and middle school years either embarrassing myself or wishing I wasn't so goddamned awkward.

In and after high-school, that all changed. I had a circle of friends during this time, something I had never had before. Something I still cherish.