Technology and sexuality – what's the connection? Addressing youth sexualities in efforts to increase girls' participation in computing

Abstract

To date, girls and women are significantly underrepresented in computer science and technology. Concerns about this underrepresentation have sparked a wealth of educational efforts to promote girls’ participation in computing, but these programs have demonstrated limited impact on reversing current trends. This paper argues that this is, in part, because these programs tend to take a narrow view of their purpose, ignoring important factors that shape girls’ identities and education/career choices – not least broader narratives around gender, race, and sexuality. This paper focuses on the issue of sexuality – that is, how sexuality discourses are shaping a diverse range of girls’ experiences with technology, their perceptions of themselves, and their ultimate educational and career choices. The paper makes the case for considering these important connections, bringing together research in two disparate areas: (1) sociological research in gender, diversity, and technology and (2) critical cultural studies research in youth sexualities and schooling.

Keywords:

• computing
• education
• sexuality
• gender
• youth

Funding

This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation [Award 1203206].

Notes on contributor

Catherine Ashcraft is a Senior Research Scientist with the National Center for Women & Information Technology at the University of Colorado Boulder. She has conducted research and presented on issues related to diversity, sexuality, information technology, and education for the past 15 years. Dr Ashcraft's research has been published by a number of education and interdisciplinary journals such as the American Educational Research Journal, Teachers College Record, Anthropology & Education, Youth & Society. Her most recent work includes the recently released report Girls in IT: The Facts.

Notes

1. In this sense, discourses comprise representations, narratives, and practices that establish the dominant categories of knowledge, constrain what may be talked about, in what manner, and by whom (Foucault 1981). Although they appear natural, these discourses are socially constructed and unstable; therefore, they are subject to challenge and reconstruction. Also, while it may not be immediately evident, because sexuality discourses are intimately bound up with discourses of race, class, gender, and ability, they also can provide “jumping off” points for discussing a variety of issues related to these intersecting social identities as well.

2. Of course, as an aside and as I argue elsewhere (Ashcraft 2006), addressing youth sexualities is important not only for our efforts to increase girls’ participation in computing but also for its own sake, helping girls’ navigate complex questions of sexuality and identity, instead of leaving them all alone to wrestle with these questions, wondering if they are the only one who have them.

3. I do not mean to imply that considering sexuality is only relevant when it comes to girls’ participation in computing; indeed, considering how sexuality discourses shape boys’ participation is also important. In this essay, I focus on girls primarily because I am attempting to connect this argument to research and practice designed to increase girls’ participation in computing.

4. Recognizing that the boundaries of this research are rather fluid, I use this term somewhat loosely to refer to a body of interdisciplinary research that investigates the relationship between new technologies and identities related to gender, sexuality, race, ability, and so on. I also use the term to refer to the way this field has evolved in complex ways that recognize the power of technology to both reproduce and challenge oppressive social relations, rather than the more “utopian” focus the field originally emphasized.