Sexism In The Tech Industry Takes Center Stage • Hacker News Board

Re: Sexism In The Tech Industry Takes Center Stage

#61

Post by jlgreco » Thu, Sep 12, 2013, 4:19 PM UTC

babs474 wrote: post #22

Interesting that HN keeps killing threads on this topic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6360328 A stubborn refusal to confront the problem is what helps these attitudes fester.

I think perhaps the problem here is a poorly defined concept of "confront the problem".

What exactly does it mean to confront the problem? I am not planning on giving a sexist presentation so... problem confronted? Am I suppose to do something to prevent others from giving sexist presentations too? I am not in a position to do that, and very few people are (how many people on HN actually run conferences?).

I don't see any actionable call to arms.

Re: Sexism In The Tech Industry Takes Center Stage

#62

Post by untog » Thu, Sep 12, 2013, 4:20 PM UTC

nubb wrote: post #39

Best comment on the article from Bob Costas... For years people (and yes, mostly guys) who were involved in the tech industry and engineering in general were shunned and dismissed by culture at large to be losers and sexual non-entities and therefore lacking in social currency. As a result of this mass dismissal and social rejection, and since most women aren't raised or brought up to deal with rejection and social s…

Its because they don't think women in general have the fortitude nor the willingness to not shower for days and be content with not going outside while living off cold pizza. [...] instead of women decrying these prevailing attitudes in tech they should embrace these traits.

You really don't see the inherent contradiction there? The first half says the problem is assumptions by men about what women will or will not do. The 'solution' buys into this assumption without examining whether it is in any way true.

Who says women do not have the fortitude to not shower for days and live off cold pizza?

Re: Sexism In The Tech Industry Takes Center Stage

#63

Post by ryderm » Thu, Sep 12, 2013, 4:20 PM UTC

minimaxir wrote: post #33

parfe wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The moderators and many people in the room found the presentations funny. It wasn't until later when they tried explaining their behaviour to their mothers that they even began to understand the problems with what occurred.

It should be noted that the two moderators issued a "what the hell were you thinking?" statement and apology immediately after the hack was presented.

And the second guy still presented after the first got that reaction? Wow.

Re: Sexism In The Tech Industry Takes Center Stage

#64

Post by eli » Thu, Sep 12, 2013, 4:21 PM UTC

0xdeadbeefbabe wrote: post #56

marcuspovey wrote: post #17

Commented earlier on another Women In Tech thread (seems to be the meme of the day). The question is not "Why are there so few women in IT?", it's "Why are so many men in IT such jerks?"

My question is, what kind of jerk would brand a whole field as sexist because of the sensationally bad behavior of two people?

The field has a serious problem with sexism, even if many (or even most) of its individual members are not themselves sexist.

Re: Sexism In The Tech Industry Takes Center Stage

#65

Post by scc » Thu, Sep 12, 2013, 4:21 PM UTC

Unsurprisingly, the guys who demoed "Titstare" are part of AngelHack - they are from the "Hate-You Cards" team which was accepted into AngelHack's "pre-accelerator" program.

Re: Sexism In The Tech Industry Takes Center Stage

#66

Post by gametheoretic » Thu, Sep 12, 2013, 4:22 PM UTC

nubb wrote: post #39

Best comment on the article from Bob Costas... For years people (and yes, mostly guys) who were involved in the tech industry and engineering in general were shunned and dismissed by culture at large to be losers and sexual non-entities and therefore lacking in social currency. As a result of this mass dismissal and social rejection, and since most women aren't raised or brought up to deal with rejection and social s…

dat full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYBPotROKC8

Replace, and I'll delete this one.

Re: Sexism In The Tech Industry Takes Center Stage

#67

Post by minimaxir » Thu, Sep 12, 2013, 4:22 PM UTC

alexholehouse wrote: post #48

So while the Business Insider story was just in tech circles I can image everyone's favourite brogrammer Pax Dickinson may have been able to casually sidestep into another sector. With it hitting NPR, I suspect this has irreversibly damaged his professional reputation.

Pax Dickinson is now creating and running a tech startup.

https://medium.com/glimpse-labs/4aa5b6a6a665

Re: Sexism In The Tech Industry Takes Center Stage

#68

Post by masmullin » Thu, Sep 12, 2013, 4:23 PM UTC

ChuckMcM wrote: post #8

eli wrote: post #2

Not sure this adds much to the story, but I think it's noteworthy that this was covered in a mainstream news program. I heard it on the radio yesterday.

The whole thing is sad, but hopefully this sort of exposure will have the 'training' effect that folks won't seriously expect us to believe the excuse "Hey, its just a joke, I didn't mean it." which works fine if you're comedian doing a comedy act, not so well if your venue is more serious than that.

Once we remove jokes from the workplace, then we can concentrate our focus on removing smiling. Work should be no fun zones, one day our dream of robotic toil will come to fruition.

Re: Sexism In The Tech Industry Takes Center Stage

#69

Post by awj » Thu, Sep 12, 2013, 4:23 PM UTC

untog wrote: post #62

nubb wrote: post #39

Best comment on the article from Bob Costas... For years people (and yes, mostly guys) who were involved in the tech industry and engineering in general were shunned and dismissed by culture at large to be losers and sexual non-entities and therefore lacking in social currency. As a result of this mass dismissal and social rejection, and since most women aren't raised or brought up to deal with rejection and social s…

Its because they don't think women in general have the fortitude nor the willingness to not shower for days and be content with not going outside while living off cold pizza. [...] instead of women decrying these prevailing attitudes in tech they should embrace these traits. You really don't see the inherent contradiction there? The first half says the problem is assumptions by men about what women will or will not d…

I've encountered more women capable of avoiding the shower for days than I ever would have wanted. "Apathy towards basic hygiene" is not established at the genetic level.

Either way, that is something I'd like to see leave this industry too.

Re: Sexism In The Tech Industry Takes Center Stage

#70

Post by alexholehouse » Thu, Sep 12, 2013, 4:23 PM UTC

untog wrote: post #62

nubb wrote: post #39

Best comment on the article from Bob Costas... For years people (and yes, mostly guys) who were involved in the tech industry and engineering in general were shunned and dismissed by culture at large to be losers and sexual non-entities and therefore lacking in social currency. As a result of this mass dismissal and social rejection, and since most women aren't raised or brought up to deal with rejection and social s…

Its because they don't think women in general have the fortitude nor the willingness to not shower for days and be content with not going outside while living off cold pizza. [...] instead of women decrying these prevailing attitudes in tech they should embrace these traits. You really don't see the inherent contradiction there? The first half says the problem is assumptions by men about what women will or will not d…

Beat me to it. This is exactly the problem - even people who believe they're helping are making generalizations or unjustified assumptions based on how women are perceived in society. This is so incredibly endemic in so many walks of life its virtually impossible to take a step back and realize.