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On sexism in the tech industry - rebuttal

laurasanders.net

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Re: On sexism in the tech industry - rebuttal

#81
post #31

There is certainly sexism in the tech industry. It's not terribly common or widespread, but it's there. But the tech industry is also famously self-selective. Many people in the industry self-selected for it when they were pre-teens. Spending hours upon hours programming in BASIC or whatever on their C64s or TRS-80s before they were out of elementary school...before thoughts of sexism enter the consciousness. There i…

Care to provide an example of sexism to back-up your rant?

Your posts would be a very good recent example.

Re: On sexism in the tech industry - rebuttal

#82

Faruk Ateş' at least got this part right: The tone of our debates – which often get quite heated – is frequently different based on the gender of the author(s). Sanders' article seems a little more rant-y than it should be for someone who is basing her experiences "in the industry" (UK) since April 2012. Not that a relatively small amount of experience means you can't have an opinion, but it can't be good to become t…

[deleted]

Re: On sexism in the tech industry - rebuttal

#83

I'm a young, white male, aka privileged person. I've read quite a lot about feminism (and anti-racism for that matter), and struggled to get a clear picture of when my actions are appreciated. I think the most important lesson I've learned is that I must listen; because I do not have any first hand experience.

I'm a young, white man too. Care to tell me how this makes me a privileged person?

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Re: On sexism in the tech industry - rebuttal

#84
Whoever asks questions or needs an opinnion(woman or man) must understand that first: before you begin to do so, you took a responsibility to accept what ever is being said, because you don't know the other end whos anwsering. let me ......... 1nce more.... !!!!!you don't know!!!!! there are too many variables

Woman or men, what ever.... there are always 2 sides of the story

sexism = vicious circle

Re: On sexism in the tech industry - rebuttal

#85

Faruk Ateş' at least got this part right: The tone of our debates – which often get quite heated – is frequently different based on the gender of the author(s). Sanders' article seems a little more rant-y than it should be for someone who is basing her experiences "in the industry" (UK) since April 2012. Not that a relatively small amount of experience means you can't have an opinion, but it can't be good to become t…

He was probably a better negotiator. And citing laws that say you should be paid a certain amount, instead of showing her value to the company, is not a good tactic for getting a raise.

Re: On sexism in the tech industry - rebuttal

#86
10/2 article on dearth of women in the tech industry. It mentions a key point, in its first paragraph copied below. I agree (and I'm a woman).

It’s an important question: why are there so few women working in the IT and telecoms sector? It might be one of the rare times that The Guardian has actually asked an interesting question in fact. The answer is, I’m afraid, that on average men and women are different.

Re: On sexism in the tech industry - rebuttal

#87
What he wrote was a primer.. describing the basics of what sexism is.. in fact in his terminology portion he pretty much breaks down what any gender equality book would break down, and he does so in a very concise manor. Also you MUST address rape culture when addressing sexism. Being dismissive of it is what leads to sexism.

Reminds me of that kixeye manager "Let me tell you, it's ok to make jokes about slavery because that's over."

Re: On sexism in the tech industry - rebuttal

#88

I'm a young, white male, aka privileged person. I've read quite a lot about feminism (and anti-racism for that matter), and struggled to get a clear picture of when my actions are appreciated. I think the most important lesson I've learned is that I must listen; because I do not have any first hand experience.

I'm a young, white man too. Care to tell me how this makes me a privileged person?

I think he/she may be referring to this sentence in the original article (on netmagazine.com): "In today's Western society, being male, white and straight gives you three huge privileges over everyone else"

Re: On sexism in the tech industry - rebuttal

#89
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (being married makes this a little bit less awkward for me) I would think that it would make it MORE awkward for you to ask a female colleague to go out.

The idea is that they know it's business, not personal. There's no potential hidden agenda about trying to bang your co-worker that there might be if you were single.

Because adultery is unheard of? I am not denying that when you are married or in a known committed relationship the tendency is to interpret things in a purely "two co-workers going to lunch" kind of way, but to assume marriage guarantees that end goal, at least in America, is probably a bit hasty.

Re: On sexism in the tech industry - rebuttal

#90
post #31

There is certainly sexism in the tech industry. It's not terribly common or widespread, but it's there. But the tech industry is also famously self-selective. Many people in the industry self-selected for it when they were pre-teens. Spending hours upon hours programming in BASIC or whatever on their C64s or TRS-80s before they were out of elementary school...before thoughts of sexism enter the consciousness. There i…

Its interesting that the tech industry has so high number of people that learned the basic work skills at a very low age.

Very few other professions has this. A plumber did not go around fixing pipes at age 10. A medic, while they might have played doctor, do not really learn any of the basic skills until hitting university education. The lawyer when he was 10 is unlikely to be reading law documents.

Beyond maybe the mechanic profession, what other professions beyond IT has this property?

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