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Girls' Life vs. Boys' Life? Magazine Cover Sparks Uproar

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Re: Girls' Life vs. Boys' Life? Magazine Cover Sparks Uproar

#21

Post by krastanov »

Diamons wrote: post #19
CydeWeys wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not the ratio of men to women in the tech industry, and said ratio is not caused by competency discrepancies. It's actually partially caused by exactly this kind of sexist drivel that you're spouting; who would want to enter an industry that is so unwelcoming? Why is there so much sexist trash in the HN comments today?

Just because you disagree with an opinion does not make it sexism. If anything it exaggerates your own self prescribed ignorance.

Theirs is not just an opinion when you have a few decades of sociological research to back it up. If you want to see research supporting the claim that you are wrong a good starting point would be Project Implicit's webpage.

Indeed, the person that responded to you could have been less inflammatory, but it is pretty hard to keep it cool when you are surrounded by people that dismiss an entire group of people based on gender, sexual orientation or skin color.

Re: Girls' Life vs. Boys' Life? Magazine Cover Sparks Uproar

#22

Post by relics443 »

Maybe it's just my lack of need for external influence, but why is this a big deal? I think women can and should be whatever they want to be. A trashy magazine shouldn't change that.

Should A Girl's Life change the tone of their stories? That's up to the market. As long as their demographic enjoys what they print (which translates to $$$), they'll continue to run it. Should people be outraged by it? If they choose to be, yes. But at the end of the day a consumer is a consumer, and if they want trash they'll get it.

Re: Girls' Life vs. Boys' Life? Magazine Cover Sparks Uproar

#24

Post by krastanov »

marcusgarvey wrote: post #23

Why was this flagged?

Some of the flagged comment in the discussion were very sexist. The rest of the flagged comments were people a bit aggressively calling them out. I guess all the up and down voting triggered a flame war detector.

Which is really sad, I really hoped we can all agree that your sex does not determine whether you are a good engineer.

Re: Girls' Life vs. Boys' Life? Magazine Cover Sparks Uproar

#25

Post by krastanov »

relics443 wrote: post #22

Maybe it's just my lack of need for external influence, but why is this a big deal? I think women can and should be whatever they want to be. A trashy magazine shouldn't change that. Should A Girl's Life change the tone of their stories? That's up to the market. As long as their demographic enjoys what they print (which translates to $$$), they'll continue to run it. Should people be outraged by it? If they choose to…

I can not provide links right now, but reading up on "stereotype threat" will probably explain why this still matters.

I a few words: the same person performing the same task will perform lower if they are aware of a stereotype that says that their group performs worse at the given task. It is reproduced for white and black, male and female, etc.

Re: Girls' Life vs. Boys' Life? Magazine Cover Sparks Uproar

#26

Post by CydeWeys »

Diamons wrote: post #19
CydeWeys wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not the ratio of men to women in the tech industry, and said ratio is not caused by competency discrepancies. It's actually partially caused by exactly this kind of sexist drivel that you're spouting; who would want to enter an industry that is so unwelcoming? Why is there so much sexist trash in the HN comments today?

Just because you disagree with an opinion does not make it sexism. If anything it exaggerates your own self prescribed ignorance.

FYI, the definition of sexism I'm using is the dictionary one, not "things I disagree with". I called your opinion sexist because it is sexist. Here's the definition:

     1. prejudice or discrimination based on sex; especially discrimination against women.
     2. behavior, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on sex.
If you want to argue, instead of going all ad hominem and somehow trying to make it be about my supported ignorance or inability to handle disagreement, let's actually stick to the issues.

Re: Girls' Life vs. Boys' Life? Magazine Cover Sparks Uproar

#27

Post by adamrezich »

UnoriginalGuy wrote: post #14
CydeWeys wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's mentioned in the article. Boy's Life actually has a noble mission behind it, whereas Girl's Life is for-profit trash (essentially). The parallelism between the names of the two is an unfortunate coincidence. Near as I can tell the Girl Scouts don't have a magazine, but if they did, it would be a better comparison against Boy's Life. Maybe they should publish one?

As an aside, The Girl Scouts is a really fantastic organisation. In particular compared to The Boy Scouts in the US (which is much more religiously affiliated and discriminates against gay people; The Girl Scouts by contrast are trans-inclusive).

I was never in the Scouts myself, but surely one archaic, discriminatory policy doesn't negate all of the good the organization does, right?

Re: Girls' Life vs. Boys' Life? Magazine Cover Sparks Uproar

#28

Post by commentzorro »

krastanov wrote: post #25
relics443 wrote: post #22

Maybe it's just my lack of need for external influence, but why is this a big deal? I think women can and should be whatever they want to be. A trashy magazine shouldn't change that. Should A Girl's Life change the tone of their stories? That's up to the market. As long as their demographic enjoys what they print (which translates to $$$), they'll continue to run it. Should people be outraged by it? If they choose to…

I can not provide links right now, but reading up on "stereotype threat" will probably explain why this still matters. I a few words: the same person performing the same task will perform lower if they are aware of a stereotype that says that their group performs worse at the given task. It is reproduced for white and black, male and female, etc.

But why would that mean anything to the publisher? They want to sell the magazine and if soul crushing mind rotting stereotypes sell copies at the checkout line then why would the publisher want to be the moral agents of change?

Re: Girls' Life vs. Boys' Life? Magazine Cover Sparks Uproar

#29

Post by krastanov »

commentzorro wrote: post #28
krastanov wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can not provide links right now, but reading up on "stereotype threat" will probably explain why this still matters. I a few words: the same person performing the same task will perform lower if they are aware of a stereotype that says that their group performs worse at the given task. It is reproduced for white and black, male and female, etc.

But why would that mean anything to the publisher? They want to sell the magazine and if soul crushing mind rotting stereotypes sell copies at the checkout line then why would the publisher want to be the moral agents of change?

Fair point. My personal answer, that I do not try to push on others, is that we all should try to be agents of change. To be fair to the publisher they made it clear that they have quality content next to the cheap content.
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