Randi Harper a.k.a. FreeBSD Girl was interviewed for the FLOSS Weekly podcast and she said that every minute spent on discussing gender issues in technology is a wasted minute that should be better spent building free software.
On sexism in the tech industry - rebuttal
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Re: On sexism in the tech industry - rebuttal
#12How does such a waste of bandwidth even get 27 points? Is this site infested with feminists or what?
I think this is living proof that throw away accounts should be dealt with on here. If someone really wants to participate, a good 6/12 hours cool down without posting privileges would do nicely. I don't think anyone wins anything on here with this sort of reddit novelty account phenomenon. It will not stop all trolling, just this sort of troll.
Re: On sexism in the tech industry - rebuttal
#13How does such a waste of bandwidth even get 27 points? Is this site infested with feminists or what?
As a male feminist. I wouldn't even up vote this. She does point out why the article is stupid but I think most people would agree on that point already.
>As a male feminist.
Say what? Shouldn't you be for equality rather than women's rights? Men are people too!
Re: On sexism in the tech industry - rebuttal
#14[deleted]
Re: On sexism in the tech industry - rebuttal
#15Nice post. But I would like to hear on whether or not you disagree with the actual point that he's making.
Do you think rape jokes can be brushed off or should the tellers be actively censured instead?
Re: On sexism in the tech industry - rebuttal
#16I don't know. This was my reaction when the CEO of a tiny startup I was helping out declared, out of the blue for no reason, and in complete pigheaded seriousness "I would never hire a woman at this company."
I thought to myeself: "Wow you're fucking retarded. You've just shot out the only two qualified experts in my network (for a couple of important roles) who we could possibly get to help us out on terms we can afford, and you don't have a network of your own - and now I see why, because you're fucking retarded."
You will also note that I didn't swim against this guy's current for that long. But I did have a job with him, and if I were a woman I wouldn't have had that job with him, because he's an idiot. A sexist idiot or just an idiot? This is a question of definitions. By the definition of sexism, he is a sexist idiot.
As long as he actually refuses to hire qualified women, his whole company is sexist.
Re: On sexism in the tech industry - rebuttal
#17Interesting article, along with the comment on it. As a man in the tech industry, I saw sexism quite a long time ago -- in that a coworker benefited from a pay lawsuit. But that was several decades ago. I haven't seen much sexism in the industry since then, but it could be that my views are limited and the companies and teams I have worked on limited. So this article felt good to see. Maybe what I think I've been see…
that's my problem with these articles and posts. They seem to suppose that there aren't more women because of sexism.
I'm not an industry researcher, so all I have to go on is my experiences.
I was a tiny kid, playing with Simons BASIC and having fun. But I never thought of it as a career path. No one I knew was in IT, no one in the family, or friend's families was in IT.
At school it wasn't something that was talked about as a career path (though nursing and teaching were).
I didn't realize I wanted to be a developer until I got a random part time job at university and built websites and databases. (I was majoring in engineering at the time)
That left me with a big gap in skill set from everyone else my age who had been playing around with tech since they were pre-teens.
But things are relatively hunky-dory now.
But I always think, what if I hadn't gotten that random job? Why hadn't I been exposed to this career before then?
Would it have been industry sexism that meant I wasn't a developer? No. It would have been lack of exposure to the possibility at a young age.
Re: On sexism in the tech industry - rebuttal
#18I only skimmed the original article, and I think this woman makes some great point about how absurd his article is.
She has some good points about her experience, however, as she has only had 6 months in this field, and that is working in one company, I'd say she's not the right person to write a rebuttal to anything about the current state of it's culture.
Someone who has worked in multiple companies, in different regions, and at varying levels of organizations would be much more fit.
Again, I'm not saying her article is crap, the bulk of it is a good counterpoint, I'd just like to see someone with a bit of a broader view way in from a woman's perspective.
Re: On sexism in the tech industry - rebuttal
#19How does such a waste of bandwidth even get 27 points? Is this site infested with feminists or what?
Taking feminism to be broadly the belief that women and men should have equal social, political and economic rights, I would be very upset if the site wasn't infested with feminists.
You're describing egalitarianism, not feminism. When you see an article being advertised as "by an actual girl", you know it's not about equality.
Re: On sexism in the tech industry - rebuttal
#20Randi Harper a.k.a. FreeBSD Girl was interviewed for the FLOSS Weekly podcast and she said that every minute spent on discussing gender issues in technology is a wasted minute that should be better spent building free software.
Cool. I've been saying it for years, but because I don't have a vagina, my opinion is considered sexist. B-but feminism is about equality, r-right?