They re not as drawn to the hostile elements of cyberspace as men are. This isn t about competence, Katz hastens to add. Women have the brains and the skills to hack but they re more interested in building communities, and in more creative things, like Web design. Tell it to Jude Milhon, aka St. Jude, one of the Web s best-known female hackers. She talks instead of bravura intellection, inventing algorithms, computer code that is elegant, graceful and just plain ol fun.
Hackers are the elite corps of computer designers and programmers.
And in the off-hours, they can turn their ingenuity to sparring with enemies on the Nets, or to the midnight stroll through systems you should not be able to enter, were you not so very clever. It s a high-stress life, but it can be amazing fun. Imagine being paid well-paid to play forever with the toys you love. And while you re at it, imagine a world in which testosterone was no longer a prerequisite of membership in any elite corps of computer designers and programmers. Imagine a world in which equal numbers of men and women were adept at tapping the art, elegance and power of technology.