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reddit/stackoverflow style voting on badges. some way of tagging someone at a conference or whatnot as being an ass, or cool, that way you get a warning that this person is a douche. i'm bettin the same people who are creeps are the same people i wouldn't want to bother talking to anyway.
the only problem is someone of course is going to hack it...
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Discussion, or circle jerk? I'm not arguing against the problem or trying to find solutions, but I saw nothing new or interesting in the linked post. "Same tired discussion" is right, every discussion on the topic here on HN plays out the exact same way and goes nowhere. It's the religion or politics equivalent of HN discussions.
I'm not arguing against the problem or trying to find solutions But you are arguing against the discussion, no? Instead of using this article (as much as you may feel it lacks substance) as an opportunity to discuss the problem further, and propose solutions or suggestions... Instead, you label it a circle jerk. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but you haven't done much to change that.
The only remotely new point is the comment about Asperger's not being an excuse for sexist behavior.
So yes, the article lacks substance. There's essentially none. If I want to have a discussion about the role of women in IT and web development, this particular post is a horrible starting point. Resulting discussion will almost certainly be ill-informed and a complete waste of my time. Given the amount of work I would have to do to drag the discussion into productivity, I am better off writing my own blog.
Why do people care so much about having lots of women work in the software industry?
Seriously, there seems to be this desire to get women into programming. If women really were into programming they would get into it despite the 'sexist creeps'. It might surprise all the people here but a lot of industries (like real estate and sales) have a LOT more sexist creeps than programmers.
There are lots of areas where people are sexist and racist and jerks - it doesn't stop the people who want to get into those areas from getting into them.
Perhaps women just don't want to get into computer science. And no amount of bending over backwards and trying to appeal to female programmers will get us to a situation of 50% female developers.
The first question people going on and on about 'ratios in the software industry' need to answer is -
Are there really that many women interested in becoming a software developer? Is their interest a lukewarm type of interest where the minute they see one sexist programmer jerk they run off?
We are talking about the same women who fought tooth and nail for things like the right to vote and who do lots of really tough things like raise a family (often alone). Are we to believe that a few sexist programmers scare off these same women?
Final Question: Is the presence of some percentage of sexist jerk programmers the real reason there are far fewer women in programming? Is that really what differentiates programming from fields with more social interaction (like sales) or fields with more of a human aspect (like health care and medicine)?
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That's a slippery slope fallacy. I grew up around feminists, and I can guarantee you, that is not where equality leads.
And before everyone starts bashing feminism by lumping them all in with Dworkin and the most extreme examples, please try getting to know one first. Their views are usually pretty reasonable.
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You know, we are near the situation when asking a girl out for a cup of coffee is perceived as an atempt to rape.
We are not 'near' that point. The Rebecca Watson incident clearly demonstrates that we are already there.
2. Woman gets hit on in an elevator in a foreign country after leaving a bar at 4am. She declines.
3. Woman mentions incident as a "What Not To Wear" style off-hand comment in a video blog about the conference, before going on to more important things.
4. Richard Dawkins flips his shit.
5. Some men think this situation means politely asking a woman out for coffee will get you accused of rape.
Why do we let the same tired discussion about gender pervade HN once per week?
Because the discussion needs to happen. We don't get to sweep it under the rug.
The same boorish nonsense goes on in other contexts, but doesn't seem to attract the same level of drama.
I'm glad someone called Tom out on that image he posted. It's minor in the entire scheme of things, but what irritates me are the casual comments and reactions like "That's ok.. haha, very funny!" It's like there's this cognitive dissonance happening: people believe in equality between sexes, and treating women like regular humans with respect... yet we also make casual comments that treat females as just objects. It…