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Dear Hacker Community – We Need To Talk

asherwolf.com

1–10 of 160 posts

Re: Dear Hacker Community – We Need To Talk

#4
That's quite the rant. It's a shame that someone's been put off like this, but it doesn't seem like there's enough in this article to really work out what's gone on.

Regret that I'm only learning of Cryptoparties now - I quite like the concept.

Re: Dear Hacker Community – We Need To Talk

#5
The problem with this woman's story is that she takes a few cases of explicit sexism and extrapolates them as the reason why everyone is saying rude things to her. Or at least that's how I see it. Perhaps she is just commenting on the general douchebaggery of the community, but even then much of the criticism she received could be seen as fair if she was actually in the wrong.

Although sexism is clearly an issue in the hacker community that needs to be tackled, the story makes me wonder if the author's behavior didn't initiate some of the vitriol directed at her. There was certainly plenty of it without any sexist connotations.

She says "I’ve gone from being a Facebook user to running OTR, PGP and Tor all in under a month." Perhaps she is not as knowledgeable or as experienced as she thinks she is, and so she is receiving criticism from those who know what they're saying/doing.

Re: Dear Hacker Community – We Need To Talk

#6
I feel like I'm missing the part where this blogger was discriminated against. Disagreement or conflict =/= discrimination. I'd say it's pretty sexist to assume that people who disagree with you are doing so because of their gender, and not because they have, you know, an actual and possibly valid point of view.

This just seems like a fairly childish dummy-spit, IMO.

Re: Dear Hacker Community – We Need To Talk

#8
They (big bad men) gave you trouble for seemingly valid difference in opinions, deal with it.

And please don't imply that the HN has any hand in fostering misogyny or sexism because it's a completely false characterization of the community at large. In fact if you haven't picked up on it yet we're actually one of the more "progressive" and or liberal industries.

But that doesn't mean we're going to hold you to any lesser standard or treat you better because your a girl either.

By the way quitting and blaming others in a rant was probably the wrong decision on your part.

Re: Dear Hacker Community – We Need To Talk

#9
It's so hard to know what to say in response to stuff like this. I want to believe that there's a consensus amongst the enlightened hacker community that the type of sexist behavior described is Not Acceptable, but it seems hardly a week goes by without another major incident in which a long-standing female contributor is finally pushed out of a project by stuff like this.

I agree with Ms. Wolf that community and convention anti-harassment rules, policies, and introductions are a good place to start, but I can't help but wonder what the real answer is. My introduction to this entire world came through a female hacker, one that I still hold in highest esteem, and I can't help but feel a sense of immense confusion and sadness that she and all those beyond the straight/white/male class are still made to feel like outsiders.

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