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Adria Richards: ‘I’m staying safe’

venturebeat.com

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Re: Adria Richards: ‘I’m staying safe’

#31

Post by Guvante »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #24
criley wrote: post #18

I hate the idea that she's getting death threats and insults because of her gender. That's wrong. It's not because of her gender. It's because she's a notable figure on the internet. I challenge the reader to find any notable figure online who has held a controversial position and not been the target of death threats. That is an Internet anonymity problem, not a gender problem! Women are not the only targets of anony…

Please explain how this situation would have worked if, instead of Adria, the original tweeter/picture-poster had been a white, heterosexual, Protestant man.

The original tweeter made it about gender, so it wouldn't have worked the same if it were a man.

The posters point is that if a man had been the forefront of a lot of news then death threats would have been thrown at him too.

Re: Adria Richards: ‘I’m staying safe’

#32

Post by thelukester »

Anyone who has read up on Adria Richards' past, knows she's an attentions starved cry-baby. Can we please stop feeding her ego, and stop upvoting these posts about her. She failed miserably at her job of developer relations and has no more business in Technology. Lets move on and stop talking about her.

Re: Adria Richards: ‘I’m staying safe’

#33

Post by deltaqueue »

I'm still amazed there are journalists reporting that the developers made sexist jokes, and furthermore embarrassed at America's inability to be comfortable with sexuality. The dongle joke was 5th grade humor and the forking comment had 0 implied innuendo. Somehow these privately-told jokes, somewhat sexual in nature, were inferred as sexist, and people lost their jobs because of it!

This whole situation sickens me--the threats against Adria especially--but the only thing truly surprising at this point is that Adria did not envision her attempt to summon pitchforks would backfire, with pitchforks being turned on herself. This is the kind of naivety that you would expect from someone unfamiliar with the internet; not someone who works with programmers for a living.

Re: Adria Richards: ‘I’m staying safe’

#34

Post by esbwhat »

maudineormsby wrote: post #12

Sorry, but I don't think the conference organizers overreacted. They did exactly what they were supposed to do under the CoC - they received a complaint, and addressed it discreetly. If they hadn't taken it seriously, and just said 'cool it', then they'd be guilty of not taking their own CoC seriously. And they didn't kick the guy out, or anything like that - it was basically a verbal warning, but done formally so th…

I also don't think Adria overreacted. It was a microaggression. Jokes like that foster the uncomfortable boys club environment that is so inherent to tech. Were the jokes explicitly sexist? No, but in an industry that has more than just a bad track record, stuff like that is not okay. Context matters.

Re: Adria Richards: ‘I’m staying safe’

#35

Post by Guvante »

logjam wrote: post #5

The irrational venom and utter cowardice of those who attacked this woman and her supporters, including here on HN, shouldn't be surprising, but somehow it still is. Tech? I would have thought better of arguably among the most "rational" humans. Yet another lesson in how close to the surface very primitive emotions lie. And tech remains a cesspool of mysogyny.

Who says it was tech? There were several examples of both extreme sides using this as a standing ground for their cause.

You can't use these kinds of situations to gauge reaction because the vocal minority yells louder than ever.

Re: Adria Richards: ‘I’m staying safe’

#36

Post by metajack »

criley wrote: post #18

I hate the idea that she's getting death threats and insults because of her gender. That's wrong. It's not because of her gender. It's because she's a notable figure on the internet. I challenge the reader to find any notable figure online who has held a controversial position and not been the target of death threats. That is an Internet anonymity problem, not a gender problem! Women are not the only targets of anony…

John Scalzi rebuts this pretty well I think:

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2011/08/31/the-sort-of-crap-i-don...

Re: Adria Richards: ‘I’m staying safe’

#37

Post by pyre »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #24
criley wrote: post #18

I hate the idea that she's getting death threats and insults because of her gender. That's wrong. It's not because of her gender. It's because she's a notable figure on the internet. I challenge the reader to find any notable figure online who has held a controversial position and not been the target of death threats. That is an Internet anonymity problem, not a gender problem! Women are not the only targets of anony…

Please explain how this situation would have worked if, instead of Adria, the original tweeter/picture-poster had been a white, heterosexual, Protestant man.

You've never seen Anonymous go nuclear on white supremacists? Or back when they were trolling Tom Green's live web show? etc.

The fact that this is a "Women in Tech" issue is what generated so much publicity, and the publicity is what draws the trolls. If two posters on 4chan's /b/ board had some exchange where one named-and-shamed the other over a penis joke, and he ended up losing his job? I don't think it's hard to imagine Anonymous coming down hard in the perpetrator, whether male or female.

Re: Adria Richards: ‘I’m staying safe’

#38

Post by dminor »

nbouscal wrote: post #29
alexobenauer wrote: post #7

I apologize in advance for nitpicking, but from the article: "It’s been horrible for the PlayHaven developer who lost his job. [...] Who now has to find a new job in tech to support his kids. What’s worse, is that he’s not in Silicon Valley..." Software engineering exists beyond silicon valley. It's true.

It exists, but if you read past where you clipped the quote, you notice that all he's saying is that in the valley demand is extremely high. Demand in other places is significantly lower. (Speaking partly from personal experience, as I do not live in Silicon Valley.)

I'm in the Portland area and recruiters call/email constantly. I have a hard time believing it's not the same for any major metro area.

Re: Adria Richards: ‘I’m staying safe’

#39

Post by vor_ »

> Since March 20, she has not published a single tweet. There have been no new posts on her blog. She’s been silenced. Congratulations, Internet.

Please give us a break with the martyrdom. Nobody has silenced her. She is free to continue posting to her blog and Twitter.

Re: Adria Richards: ‘I’m staying safe’

#40

Post by randallsquared »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #24
criley wrote: post #18

I hate the idea that she's getting death threats and insults because of her gender. That's wrong. It's not because of her gender. It's because she's a notable figure on the internet. I challenge the reader to find any notable figure online who has held a controversial position and not been the target of death threats. That is an Internet anonymity problem, not a gender problem! Women are not the only targets of anony…

Please explain how this situation would have worked if, instead of Adria, the original tweeter/picture-poster had been a white, heterosexual, Protestant man.

Then it would have been about Christianity, or about how technology culture is repressed and not sex positive.
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