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Sexism in Tech. Or: CloudMine pulls its sponsorship of API Jam.

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Re: Sexism in Tech. Or: CloudMine pulls its sponsorship of API Jam.

#21

Post by jensnockert »

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #5

God. This stuff is beyond tacky. It's not just insulting for females but it reminds other LGBT geeks that they're outliers. Who cares whether a man or woman is delivering my drink? Like seriously, I'm gay and I don't think I've ever thought "Damn, a woman delivered my drink instead of a dude".

I am a man and feel insulted, the implication that I would go to a hackday to ogle at women is insulting to me.

Not all heterosexual males that are interested by such events are undersexed hormone bombs that care more about women than about actually building cool stuff.

I find this sort of behavior insulting to our trade.

Re: Sexism in Tech. Or: CloudMine pulls its sponsorship of API Jam.

#22

Post by angersock »

alinajaf wrote: post #17
ArtB wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Who cares whether a man or woman is delivering my drink? If you don't get this, then you are missing a lot. Generally speaking men on average will enjoy themselves a lot more if there are pretty girls around. There is a restaurant in town that serves Swiss Chalet grade food in town but all the chicks wear miniskirts and look like models. Even on a week night it is packed with businessmen tipping extravagantly. Sex…

> Generally speaking men on average will enjoy themselves a lot more if there are pretty girls around. And I wouldn't argue with that. In the short time I was in Japan I blew I don't even want to think about it levels of money on hostess bars and just about all the other sort of fun you can imagine. But really, there's a time and a place for that sort of thing and a hackday/tech-conference just isn't it. > The proble…

"What I do care about is the mountains of gold in them there hills that are ready for the plundering when we learn how to start selling software to women."

I am saddened by the implication here that selling good software that solves problems for everyone should somehow be less lucrative then exploiting cultural norms and stereotypes.

This mindset is something that we, being in a new field, have a unique opportunity to overcome.

Re: Sexism in Tech. Or: CloudMine pulls its sponsorship of API Jam.

#23

Post by ArtB »

lomegor wrote: post #12
ArtB wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Who cares whether a man or woman is delivering my drink? If you don't get this, then you are missing a lot. Generally speaking men on average will enjoy themselves a lot more if there are pretty girls around. There is a restaurant in town that serves Swiss Chalet grade food in town but all the chicks wear miniskirts and look like models. Even on a week night it is packed with businessmen tipping extravagantly. Sex…

Do you have sources to back that up? (That it appeals to 85% of the target demographics). Either way, you are treating women as objects, as perks, as things that men want to look at. And you are treating men as cavemen who want to see women all the time. These ideas have affected (and are affecting) society in a bad way. By using women in that sense, they are promoting the idea that women can be used in that way if y…

> Do you have sources to back that up? (That it appeals to 85% of the target demographics).

Not at all, all I meant to convey was that it appeals to a large section of the largest demographic and that overall it probably still appeals to over 50% of the target group. Percentages were used for rhetorical flourish not to imply actual statistical data beyond personal experience.

Re: Sexism in Tech. Or: CloudMine pulls its sponsorship of API Jam.

#24

Post by angersock »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #15
ArtB wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Who cares whether a man or woman is delivering my drink? If you don't get this, then you are missing a lot. Generally speaking men on average will enjoy themselves a lot more if there are pretty girls around. There is a restaurant in town that serves Swiss Chalet grade food in town but all the chicks wear miniskirts and look like models. Even on a week night it is packed with businessmen tipping extravagantly. Sex…

> Generally speaking men on average will enjoy themselves a lot more if there are pretty girls around. Sexism aside, if I'm some place where I intend to get some coding done, pretty girls in short skirts are only going to distract me.

Statistics seem to indicate that, for now, you're safe.

(this is not a good thing.)

Re: Sexism in Tech. Or: CloudMine pulls its sponsorship of API Jam.

#25

Post by ArtB »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #15
ArtB wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Who cares whether a man or woman is delivering my drink? If you don't get this, then you are missing a lot. Generally speaking men on average will enjoy themselves a lot more if there are pretty girls around. There is a restaurant in town that serves Swiss Chalet grade food in town but all the chicks wear miniskirts and look like models. Even on a week night it is packed with businessmen tipping extravagantly. Sex…

> Generally speaking men on average will enjoy themselves a lot more if there are pretty girls around. Sexism aside, if I'm some place where I intend to get some coding done, pretty girls in short skirts are only going to distract me.

Are these really for coding? I am thousands of miles away from any tech centre, but to me they always seemed like parties and social gatherings. Kinda like a LAN, except the people there enjoy coding more than gaming. That's why it seemed "appropriate" to me, it's a party they are attractive models bringing booze.

Re: Sexism in Tech. Or: CloudMine pulls its sponsorship of API Jam.

#26

Post by drivebyacct2 »

ArtB wrote: post #9
drivebyacct2 wrote: post #5

God. This stuff is beyond tacky. It's not just insulting for females but it reminds other LGBT geeks that they're outliers. Who cares whether a man or woman is delivering my drink? Like seriously, I'm gay and I don't think I've ever thought "Damn, a woman delivered my drink instead of a dude".

> Who cares whether a man or woman is delivering my drink? If you don't get this, then you are missing a lot. Generally speaking men on average will enjoy themselves a lot more if there are pretty girls around. There is a restaurant in town that serves Swiss Chalet grade food in town but all the chicks wear miniskirts and look like models. Even on a week night it is packed with businessmen tipping extravagantly. Sex…

If "sex sells" for a coding meet-up, I think you'd rather not try to get horny men to "buy" instead of people interested in coding, hacking, or building something.

Re: Sexism in Tech. Or: CloudMine pulls its sponsorship of API Jam.

#28

Post by RegEx »

Jun8 wrote: post #20

Here's more coverage: http://bostinno.com/2012/03/20/boston-api-jam-publishes-even... The organizers' apology is: "While we thought this was a fun, harmless comment poking fun at the fact that hack-a-thons are typically male-dominated, others were offended. That was not our intention and thus we changed it." Which completely misses the fact that the other items on the announcement seem to be written by a 11 year old…

> Here's the point though: Getting super worked up about this idiocy and saying "THIS is why there are few women in tech", as some tweeters did, is not constructive either and trivializes the problem of women (and minorities) in tech.

Interesting perspective. Could you please elaborate?

Re: Sexism in Tech. Or: CloudMine pulls its sponsorship of API Jam.

#29

Post by tptacek »

funkah wrote: post #18

Guy in a polo shirt talking about "chicks": Garden-variety moron. Guy in a C++ shirt talking about "chicks": Representative of the RAMPANT MISOGYNY in our industry.

Guy in a polo shirt talking about "chicks": Garden-variety moron.

Guy in a C++† shirt erecting a billboard pointing geeks to "chicks": Representative of the RAMPANT MISOGYNY in our industry.

† Really?

Re: Sexism in Tech. Or: CloudMine pulls its sponsorship of API Jam.

#30

Post by Jun8 »

lomegor wrote: post #12
ArtB wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Who cares whether a man or woman is delivering my drink? If you don't get this, then you are missing a lot. Generally speaking men on average will enjoy themselves a lot more if there are pretty girls around. There is a restaurant in town that serves Swiss Chalet grade food in town but all the chicks wear miniskirts and look like models. Even on a week night it is packed with businessmen tipping extravagantly. Sex…

Do you have sources to back that up? (That it appeals to 85% of the target demographics). Either way, you are treating women as objects, as perks, as things that men want to look at. And you are treating men as cavemen who want to see women all the time. These ideas have affected (and are affecting) society in a bad way. By using women in that sense, they are promoting the idea that women can be used in that way if y…

Women are used throughout advertising, since it men do prefer to look at an image with a woman in it, or more correctly (but simply) put: man want to be with that woman and women want to be that woman.

However, you can go about this in a refined way, e.g. Dell's "fashion campaign", http://www.writingfordesigners.com/?p=1885) a few years ago) or in a crude way (well, GoDaddy comes to mind).

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