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Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

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Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#221

Post by prayag »

elohesra wrote: post #201
enneff wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that special thing is the golden rule to treat others how you want be treated yourself. Unless you have some magical way of forcing everyone to suddenly drop their prejudices, then there is a need for social activism. Sorry if that inconveniences you. Your entire argument is a straw man. Who are these women being given more than a fair chance? Bear in mind that the purpose of this "Female Founders" event is to show…

>Unless you have some magical way of forcing everyone to suddenly drop their prejudices, then there is a need for social activism. Predicated on what? What's your proof that such prejudices exist, or that they're applied more so to women than men? Furthermore, what's your proof that discrimination is the form of social activism required to fix this unproved prejudice? In any debate around this issue there seems to be…

>What's your proof that such prejudices exist

This guys has a point. Yea women where is the proof that you are prejudiced against except centuries of discrimination? The last western country to give women right to vote was in 1960s. Almost 50 years ago. The fact that you make 80 cents to every dollar a man makes is not a proof of any prejudice but a proof that women are genetically pre-disposed to making less money than men. Also, feminism is bad.

\sarcasm

>I assume most who think events like this are destructive -- would answer that fairness and equality relate to negative freedom: the freedom from someone restraining you from pursuing your goals i.e. we would all be more equal if the only thing which stood between us and our goals were our own skill (or lack thereof).

Because this argument assumes a level playing field for everybody including no intrinsic factors like lack of role models, lack of representation and lack of societal support.

Here's another advice for you, what you are thinking are well-reasoned arguments are all the same arguments that come up time and again in Sociology 101 to being stated in every argument on gender and race related issues on Hacker News. So, go do some research make some new (but probably) misinformed arguments about how we live in a post-gender society instead rehashing the same bigoted crap all the time.

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#222

Post by Crake »

jblow wrote: post #211

Note the extreme lack of women commenting in this thread, as well as the lack of discussion of any of the substance of the livestream. This thread is 100% nerdy dudes feeling offended by this event, plus other dudes attempting to counter this. Is not this thread itself indicative of a giant problem?

>This thread is 100% nerdy dudes feeling offended

"anyone who disagrees with me is a man! "

There are plenty of women here. You're just choosing to ignore and erase their existence because it invalidates your religion.

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#223

Post by Crake »

nhangen wrote: post #214
jblow wrote: post #211

Note the extreme lack of women commenting in this thread, as well as the lack of discussion of any of the substance of the livestream. This thread is 100% nerdy dudes feeling offended by this event, plus other dudes attempting to counter this. Is not this thread itself indicative of a giant problem?

ad hominem + sweeping generality FTW Seriously though, I am not a proponent of gender restricted events, but I have not commented on this particular thread because I wanted to watch the content first, and it's not really the place for such discussions. That said, others may feel differently, having not participated in prior conversations on this topic, and thus, the label you've applied to opponents is unnecessary an…

I like how being a man is considered an insult these days. Woman who disagrees with feminism? Damn men!

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#224

Post by ChrisNorstrom »

quanticle wrote: post #144
cube_yellow wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks like the average CS guy went from rather alpha to rather beta. So, the solution is for CS guys to start working out and stop playing video games. Creepy is code for unattractive, so if CS guys took much better care of themselves, socially intelligent women wouldn't be rightfully put off from CS in general.

I'm sorry, in what mystical era were CS grads ever "alpha"?

He's insecure and judges people and himself based on how manly and muscled they are. Read his other comments. Good guy, just needs to let go of things that don't matter.

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#225

Post by Crake »

kangaroo5383 wrote: post #161
cheez wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if only 10% of women are interested in working in tech but 20% of men are interested? (Random numbers not based in reality). Does a 50/50 split make sense? My personal experience is that there are fewer Black and Hispanic high tech workers than pretty much any other demographic, including women, if you get out of the big cities. I wish the answers were clearer, but all I can say is that if women are actually dis…

It's not a conscious choice people make. It's a subjective perception issue, which is harder to fix. Example: In a room with a male and a female founder, most people will ask the male for technical help, while assuming the female is less competent technically. Interviews are highly subjective, so is wage determination.

That might be because a lot of women prefer other fields. If you pick a random female and a random male, chances are the female has far less relevant tech experience than the male. Even in "tech," they're more likely to be HR, graphic design, or a paid tweeter like Adria Richards was before her lack of basic git hub knowledge led her to try to bully people out of their jobs.

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#226

Post by igravious »

namenotrequired wrote: post #199
igravious wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, no problem. Your initial statement struck me as a little odd too. I wouldn't have used quite so terse (?!) a response to you because HN etiquette frowns upon it - even though some cases (like perhaps this one) may warrant it. >For those who wouldn't click cause it's "Female Founders" - so far it's been just as inspiring as Startup School (even for me as a man). I'm not going to put words into your mouth. Can you…

Thanks for being so considerate. I'm not sure if I worded it poorly or if my opinion itself is so controversial. How about this? "I know this conference is clearly targeted to women, but it's interesting and inspiring to all (aspiring) founders, so I recommend men don't let themselves be put off by that"

I think that gets your point across much better. It's just that people are so sensitive around the issues of gender/race/what-have-you that one needs to choose their words very carefully.

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#227

Post by joyeuse6701 »

rmrfrmrf wrote: post #216
joyeuse6701 wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like a lot of the knee jerk negativity comes from the implication that the event is 'good', 'great', 'inspiring' because of it being only. Sort of has that liberal agenda, politically correct twang to it that really seems to exist in America, at least in this form. It gives a circle jerk like quality to it. I was personally uncomfortable with attending events in a minority only engineer group for the same reas…

I feel like a lot of the knee jerk negativity comes from the implication that the event is 'good', 'great', 'inspiring' because of it being only. Since when is that a bad thing? On the flip side, there is an equally powerful emotional appeal to support an event like this when wife, daughter, girlfriend, female friend would like to attend. That's a very Christian take on the subject and one that more people need to ge…

Eh, I broadly categorize knee jerk as a bad thing, but I'm really more about understanding an emotion rather than picking one to support an opinion on this matter.

I wouldn't say it's Christian as in, Christian and only christian, I'd say its a traditional male view, Chivalric leanings are common in a lot of other societies as well.

A strict Judaic interpretation of a woman's value is not what I was trying to get across (not sure if this is more a reflection of your confirmation bias, or my ignorance of my biases).

It was more of a: 'I know you, and here's an event catered for you and your interests, thus I support it vicariously through you'. I am using these pronouns to emphasize that they are female because this event is related to gender and the intended audience being male, and to demonstrate relationship proximity. Swap out the event from female to black, and change it to black wife/husband, son/daughter, boyfriend/girlfriend, friend and I guess it would read a lot less like your interpretation.

As for worth, that's really in the territory of belief and philosophy, i.e. Trolley Problem. Your actions in the events of picking between people to support demonstrates your projection of worth which some would say is the same as worth.

shrug

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#228

Post by namenotrequired »

igravious wrote: post #226
namenotrequired wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for being so considerate. I'm not sure if I worded it poorly or if my opinion itself is so controversial. How about this? "I know this conference is clearly targeted to women, but it's interesting and inspiring to all (aspiring) founders, so I recommend men don't let themselves be put off by that"

I think that gets your point across much better. It's just that people are so sensitive around the issues of gender/race/what-have-you that one needs to choose their words very carefully.

Yes, that's true, and I guess something that gets as many views and upvotes as that comment is normally bound to get some criticism or misunderstanding anyway :) Thanks again!

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#229

Post by thesimpsons1022 »

ForHackernews wrote: post #103
thesimpsons1022 wrote: post #82

Does anyone have any proof that there are less women founders proportionally than men? How do we know it just doesn't boil down to the fact there are less females in the industry as a whole? And are women actively being discriminated against or do they just have other priorities than founding startups?

Fewer. http://www.elearnenglishlanguage.com/blog/english-mistakes/f...

how have I never heard this?

Re: Y Combinator Female Founders Conference LiveStream

#230

Post by piebob »

paulhauggis wrote: post #148
argumentum wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me flip your argument around. If you truly care about people in tech, you should applaud any well-meaning effort to get more people excited about tech, such as this, irrespective of how the event is phrased. That this particular event is geared towards women doesn't prevent other events targeted to other groups: a conference for older founders, for example. Moreover events geared towards underrepresented groups h…

"If you truly care about people in tech, you should applaud any well-meaning effort to get more people excited about tech, such as this, irrespective of how the event is phrased." What if it was phrased "whites in tech". Would you be okay with it?

this'll really blow your mind, then: http://www.blackgirlscode.com/
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