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I like how you put 'evolutionary psychology' and 'scientific' in the same sentence as if they are at all related. Few modern fields are more full of baseless speculation and supposition, lack falsifiability, etc.
Okay, Feminism, It’s Time We Had a Talk About Empathy (2013)
31–40 of 357 posts
Re: Okay, Feminism, It’s Time We Had a Talk About Empathy (2013)
#32The only problem I have with feminism is that it's often a movement against men, and not for women. I think they would be a lot more successful doing things to encourage women rather than disparage men. Meredith would not have had to write this article. Of course, it's a lot harder to be positive rather than negative.
you should try reading about feminism sometime
Re: Okay, Feminism, It’s Time We Had a Talk About Empathy (2013)
#33Interesting that she is autistic. Autism is apparently more common among boys than girls. Could this be one reason why tech attracts more men than women? Arguably, a slightly autistic personality is helpful for a programmer. Possibly it could also be a big reason for many future programmers to turn to tech in the first place, where you deal with strict, deterministic rules instead of emotions. This would obviously no…
> Arguably, a slightly autistic personality is helpful for a programmer. This sounds a bit like people who go "haha, I'm so OCD, I like my pencils all pointing the wrong way" - incorrect self-diagnosis. "Slightly autistic personality" unfortunately seems to be fairly frequently used as an excuse to be an asshole.
>This sounds a bit like people who go
"haha, I'm so OCD, I like my pencils
all pointing the wrong way" -
incorrect self-diagnosis.
And yet there may be a connection between a predisposition to work in tech and autism. See http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aspergers_pr.htm... for the argument but also http://www.kennethrobersonphd.com/silicon-valley-breeding-gr... for an objection.
Re: Okay, Feminism, It’s Time We Had a Talk About Empathy (2013)
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Arguably, a slightly autistic personality is helpful for a programmer. This sounds a bit like people who go "haha, I'm so OCD, I like my pencils all pointing the wrong way" - incorrect self-diagnosis. "Slightly autistic personality" unfortunately seems to be fairly frequently used as an excuse to be an asshole.
Asperger's is a real diagnosis.
You are assuming that because something can be diagnosed it must exist in fact.
Re: Okay, Feminism, It’s Time We Had a Talk About Empathy (2013)
#35There had been interest, but one of the committers had dismissed the idea out of hand because a woman had proposed it. It was the funniest thing I’d heard in months — I literally doubled over laughing at how nonplussed he must have been to see it not only implemented, but implemented to rousing success. Now that's a woman I respect. Instead of whining around, she just implements it. Suckerpunched the misogynist. You…
Everyone can see the purpose of this comment. Telling women to quit whining and shut up is not novel.
Re: Okay, Feminism, It’s Time We Had a Talk About Empathy (2013)
#36This was awesome. Not because it dispels a meme that is negative in the industry, not because it is some sort of proof a woman can succeed in tech, or any other of this tropic nonsense. It was such an amazing message that was totally gender neutral: "I like building things because I am curious and I pursue knowledge for its own sake" With all the confirmation bias and name calling (which I am certainly guilty of from…
Why should women shut up about their experiences?
Re: Okay, Feminism, It’s Time We Had a Talk About Empathy (2013)
#37There had been interest, but one of the committers had dismissed the idea out of hand because a woman had proposed it. It was the funniest thing I’d heard in months — I literally doubled over laughing at how nonplussed he must have been to see it not only implemented, but implemented to rousing success. Now that's a woman I respect. Instead of whining around, she just implements it. Suckerpunched the misogynist. You…
And if she complains about being treated this way for being a woman, she wouldn't have your respect?
Re: Okay, Feminism, It’s Time We Had a Talk About Empathy (2013)
#38I understand the author has strong feelings about her innate tactics for avoiding misery, but the ultimate thrust of her "amelioration patterns" are variants on "toughen up" or "don't feed the trolls", both of which assign responsibility for the problem to victims of misogyny, not perpetrators. The author got lucky and doesn't, or can't, feel bad about misogyny. This isn't true for everyone, nor should it be. I agree…
The thrust of the article seemed to me to be that the author feels her experiences are being erased by prominent views on women in tech - that folks like Kane are labelling her experiences as invalid.
I agree that's how she feels. What I'm trying to say is that the problem isn't with her experiences, which are totally valid, but the extrapolation of those experiences into suggestions that place responsibility with victims rather than perpetrators.
Re: Okay, Feminism, It’s Time We Had a Talk About Empathy (2013)
#39The complicated thing about an article like this is that her experiences are definitely valid, it isn't hard to see where she is coming from, and I'm actually glad to read a piece from this perspective. Yet I can't help but already hear the ugly gloating and coopting of the MRAs before I even got to the predictable comments at the bottom. Can we separate intent from effect, of should we expect every blogger to be pol…
From another article of hers, [when nerds collide]( https://medium.com/@maradydd/when-nerds-collide-31895b01e68c ) >[ ... ] much of the backlash from weird nerds against “brogrammers” and “geek feminists” alike. (If you thought the conflict was only between those two groups, or that someone who criticises one group must necessarily be a member of the other, then you haven’t been paying close enough attention.) Both g…
The single comment below is exactly the self-indulgent whining against feminism in general I was expecting (as are some of the comments on here on HN)
Re: Okay, Feminism, It’s Time We Had a Talk About Empathy (2013)
#40The only problem I have with feminism is that it's often a movement against men, and not for women. I think they would be a lot more successful doing things to encourage women rather than disparage men. Meredith would not have had to write this article. Of course, it's a lot harder to be positive rather than negative.
I am a man, and feminist, and have spoken with many other feminists over the years, and read a lot of feminist literature, philosophy, cultural criticism, etc. In my experience I'd say less than 1% of feminism/feminists have anything to do with being against men. I'm having a hard time thinking of anything, actually, I could reasonably describe as promoting this view. Maybe some radical stuff from the 70s, like Firestone, but I'm hard-pressed to come up with any other serious examples.