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This is What it's Like to Be a Woman at a Bitcoin Meetup

ariannasimpson.com

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Re: This is What it's Like to Be a Woman at a Bitcoin Meetup

#61

Post by ossreality »

ANTSANTS wrote: post #52
jpwright wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many more posts like this are needed to convince you that the whole community of tech meetups is hostile towards women? Of course that individual deserves the lion's share of the blame, but writing this off as an isolated individual acting inappropriately misses the forest for the trees (i.e. misses the root cause [culture] for the proximate cause [assholes]). To further analogize, perhaps the bad apple was there…

I think that says more about the Bitcoin community than it does anything about the tech community, though. I imagine the average Bitcoin user as more a fedora-toting internet troll than a crypto-enthusiast. If you look at various cryptocurrency forums, the average user barely knows anything about computers, has little interest in learning more, and just wants someone to hold their hand through the process of getting…

>I imagine the average Bitcoin user as more a fedora-toting internet troll than a crypto-enthusiast.

Well, at least you disclosed that you're just projecting that image onto strangers you don't know.

I can make up reasonable sounding things too! Bitcoin supporters are more likely to be libertarians and thus are more likely to respect individuality, boundaries and privacy. Thus, I'm shocked to hear of a bitcoin supporter creeping on a female. (Of course, I'm not, but it has nothing to do with Bitcoin itself)

What does encryption, proof of work algorithms or anything else have to do with one's likelihood of being gross towards women? It's such a weird thing to even allege. Seems like another cheap "lol bitcoin fans are dumb neckbeards" remark to me.

Re: This is What it's Like to Be a Woman at a Bitcoin Meetup

#62

Post by sliverstorm »

zasz wrote: post #54
blairbeckwith wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

disclaimer: I'm on her side. I've never really understood the potential-physical-confrontation argument. It must be a very, very small minority of men who's first reaction to being embarrassed and shamed by a woman is to physically assault her in public?

Well, how about this analogy--you see a really beautiful girl and you try to hit on her. You're not afraid she'll throw her drink in your face, because most beautiful girls would never do such a thing, but wow, she's really drop-dead gorgeous and you don't know how to handle yourself and you find yourself getting really, really tongue-tied. It's like that for women confronting large men, except without the happy butt…

The difference is bautiful women crush me all the time, so there's strong precedence ;)

Re: This is What it's Like to Be a Woman at a Bitcoin Meetup

#63

Post by angersock »

BlackDeath3 wrote: post #51
angersock wrote: post #29

Jesus Christ. Is it only Texans and the South that know how to raise a gentleman these days?

How about we just meet somewhere in the middle of "rushing to open the car door for her" and sexual groping?

Yep.

Re: This is What it's Like to Be a Woman at a Bitcoin Meetup

#64

Post by throwawaycoder »

slewis wrote: post #37
meritt wrote: post #3

> In my mind, it’s a little preposterous that if I want to do so, however, I have to be ok with being felt up and indirectly insulted. To the author: You're right, it's unacceptable but you know how to fix it? You say something at the point in which it occurs. Nip it in the bud. Running off to write yet another gender-division-in-the-tech-world blog which will be read, primarily, by the sort of folk who already agree…

It's not on the author to say something. There were a handful of other people there who could have spoken up. Please, everyone, if you witness this type of rude behavior, speak up. We are all, male, female, undecided, both etc. responsible for improving treatment of non-males in tech. Take an active role.

It's not always easy to know what kind of relationship people are in. That's probably a reason why people tend to wait until it escalates beyond a certain point.

If people would interfere too soon, feminists wouldn't be happy either. Because that kind of behavior would imply that women are weak and unable to take care of themselves.

Re: This is What it's Like to Be a Woman at a Bitcoin Meetup

#65

Post by gnaritas »

zasz wrote: post #36
meritt wrote: post #3

> In my mind, it’s a little preposterous that if I want to do so, however, I have to be ok with being felt up and indirectly insulted. To the author: You're right, it's unacceptable but you know how to fix it? You say something at the point in which it occurs. Nip it in the bud. Running off to write yet another gender-division-in-the-tech-world blog which will be read, primarily, by the sort of folk who already agree…

What exactly do you want her to say? "Hi, stop being a dick, because this kind of behavior is a serious turn off to women who want to be involved in tech?" That's obviously not going to fly. So what about, "Hi, could you not awkwardly hug me?" What people say in response to that is, "Why are you being mean to me? I was just trying to be friendly." It's extremely hard to say something in the moment without getting ste…

I'd think the appropriate response to being groped is to shove the guy out of your personal space and say get your hands off me jerk. His response is irrelevant, groping is not just being friendly.

However, admittedly, as a guy maybe I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about.

Re: This is What it's Like to Be a Woman at a Bitcoin Meetup

#66

Post by ariannahsimpson »

meritt wrote: post #3

> In my mind, it’s a little preposterous that if I want to do so, however, I have to be ok with being felt up and indirectly insulted. To the author: You're right, it's unacceptable but you know how to fix it? You say something at the point in which it occurs. Nip it in the bud. Running off to write yet another gender-division-in-the-tech-world blog which will be read, primarily, by the sort of folk who already agree…

Good comment! I am working on organizing a meetup of my own to counter.

Re: This is What it's Like to Be a Woman at a Bitcoin Meetup

#67

Post by bcoates »

zasz wrote: post #54
blairbeckwith wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

disclaimer: I'm on her side. I've never really understood the potential-physical-confrontation argument. It must be a very, very small minority of men who's first reaction to being embarrassed and shamed by a woman is to physically assault her in public?

Well, how about this analogy--you see a really beautiful girl and you try to hit on her. You're not afraid she'll throw her drink in your face, because most beautiful girls would never do such a thing, but wow, she's really drop-dead gorgeous and you don't know how to handle yourself and you find yourself getting really, really tongue-tied. It's like that for women confronting large men, except without the happy butt…

I think the problem with that analogy is the standard advice for men in that situation is to grow up and get over it.

Re: This is What it's Like to Be a Woman at a Bitcoin Meetup

#68

Post by runjake »

rfnslyr wrote: post #35
runjake wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not a woman. I am a large, muscular male who doesn't get bothered by anyone. But it doesn't have to lead to actual physical assault to be uncomfortable or cause negative lasting effects in one's life. The intimidation, the mental abuse aspect of it is enough. If you've been mugged without being shot, it might make a little more sense to you. And really, he put his hands on her inappropriately, so he's already co…

Funny how far removed real problems are from our society. "The intimidation, the mental abuse aspect of it is enough." versus Collecting wood in a forest 40km away so you can stoke a fire and your family can eat. Tell the guy to get his hands off you, grab a seat, introduce yourself. Everyone needs an emotional baby sitter and therapist nowadays.

Not many people could cut it through pioneer life [1], either. So, I don't get your point at all.

1. Lived in the woods by myself for an extended period. Fun looking back on it now, but was not fun at the time.

Re: This is What it's Like to Be a Woman at a Bitcoin Meetup

#69

Post by BlackDeath3 »

DanBC wrote: post #43
BlackDeath3 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps this is where self-defense comes into play? If your options are 1) say something and make the aggressor more aggressive, or 2) distance yourself and hope they don't press the situation further, at some point you should have a backup plan.

So, the woman is dumb for leaving the home without having a plan to deal with people who physically assualt her in a public space? Is that what you're saying?

I don't think I actually said that, so I'm not sure where the hostility comes from, but... maybe?

Sure, she shouldn't have to be competent at self-defense just to leave the house and meet-up with some fellow Bitcoiners (or any other hobbyists), but I think that if you don't have some sort of backup plan, you're basically at the will of whatever you meet along the way.

It seems that you disagree. Care to talk about it (civilly)?

Re: This is What it's Like to Be a Woman at a Bitcoin Meetup

#70

Post by throwawaycoder »

hosh wrote: post #19

Good thing that, unlike meetups, the bitcoin protocol doesn't care if a bitcoin address is controlled by a man or a woman. I mean, that's the whole point of having a collective ledger where every agent is untrusted. There is no one saying, "Your money is no good here," based on your gender, race, creed, or political leanings.

This story made me realize that eventually we will get some sort of "FemCoin", though. Anybody who continues to use Bitcoin will be labeled a sexist and be made a social pariah.

The reason is that women didn't have a fair chance to get into Bitcoin in time because the community was so hostile. Therefore all the Bitcoin wealth is unfairly shifted to white men.

Edit: turns out Femcoin already exists https://bitbucket.org/valerieaurora/femcoin

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