The image of the boy genius in his hoodie is iconic in tech. But what does the girl genius wear? Youth is worshiped in this field, but being very smart and very young as a women in technology is much different than being a young, successful man. I’ll start by examining the different appearance expectations of young men and women in technology, including how women are penalized for not fitting a narrow mold (or: Is no makeup or too much makeup going to make people stare more?). Next, I’ll move into how the media representation (and perpetuation) of the Tech Boy Genius trope establishes a cultural touchstone, while the female equivalent is far, far rarer. Finally, we’ll look at how this cultural trope lets employers, recruiters, and investors safely view youth as a positive trait in men, while being more apprehensive about it in women (or: a list of people who’ve told you to pay your dues).

1. Croptops in Boardrooms
Viewing
youth, expression, and achievement
through gender
ChelseaMaxwell
@chelsea_lace

2. younger people
are just smarter.
“
”
Mark Zuckerberg, 22
Y Combinator event @ Stanford

5. wholebunchofdudes

6. User Interaction Designer
@ACTIVE Network
MS in Applied Cognition
and Neuroscience
@UT Dallas

7. graduated at 19
went to work

8. obsession with youth
comes from
perception of youth

9. no family?
no problem!

10. how is this legal?

11. society associates
young women with
new families

12. another issue women have?
view of early tech experience

13. 20 years ago

19. baby’s
first
wireframes

20. jessica walsh
http://www.sagmeisterwalsh.com/about/

21. the power of media!
{nonfiction edition}

24. the power of media!
{fiction edition}

26. real tired
of the bros

27. problem solving in action

28. such hope!

29. better but
problematic

30. donnawishing for depth
in season 2

31. why clothes matter

32. what women wear
no option says nothing

33. matilda kahl

34. a casual problem

35. sexualization
of the female body

36. what can tech do?

37. what can companies do?

38. what can we do?

39. @chelsea_lace
chelseamaxwell.com
thank you!