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It really isnt surprising this is pretty much the only article about gender discrimination that is allowed to be on the hacker news front page. Lea is obviousl

It really isnt surprising this is pretty much the only article about gender discrimination that is allowed to be on the hacker news front page. Lea is obviously a talented and confident person and it is great that she has had such a positive experience. Entirely agree that she can and should share it. It is however sadly predictable that the comments on HN lean very much towards self congratulatory 'gender discrimination isnt really a problem!' discussions. The huge amount of discussion around the problematic areas of tech culture are routinely censored from this site giving people who have the privilege of not having to suffer from the systematic discrimination an easy pass to believe that there is no problem when even a token effort to look makes it more than obvious that there is a massive problem of discrimination in our field.

worldsayshi 11y ago
But this article doesn't really say or support that "there is no problem". Rather that it's sort of important to have both carrots and sticks. Having just one of them will entirely kill the motivation of doing anything about it. edit: It's quite possible that I misread what you are trying to say here...
varjag 11y ago
We must be reading different editions of HN, because I see them here regularly. The GitHub CoC related stuff alone had the frontpage several times.
golergka 11y ago
> pretty much the only article about gender discrimination that is allowed to be on the hacker news front page WTF? There have been dozens of articles about gender discrimination on HN front page, and comments have always been supportive. In what alternate reality do you live?
- DanBC 11y ago
  > and comments have always been supportive. There's a sizable minority of HN commenters who deny sexism exists.
  - SeanDav 11y ago
    Almost invariably there will be a minority of any community that will disagree with any issue. What makes HN interesting is that it will never be the same minority. I would take exception on your use of the word "sizeable", but we could debate that one all day and not get anywhere, so I wont bother.
    - daleharvey 11y ago
      > Am I the only one who thinks "sexism" is overrated? > I'm still not convinced that the lack of women in tech is due to sexism. Maybe women just aren't as excited by the field as men? >> Stories like mine should become the norm, not the exception. > We don't know if that is not the case already. The echo chamber is powerful and viral. Given the comments that happen in these threads, I am not sure whether its the word 'sizeable' or 'minority' in question.
  - tomp 11y ago
    There's a sizable minority of HN commenters that perceive (or misconstrue) any questioning as straight denial.
  - golergka 11y ago
    > There's a sizable minority of HN commenters who deny sexism exists. It's always good to have a minority that questions the consensus. Even if this minority is something completely idiotic, like a "flat earth society".
    - jnbiche 11y ago
      I agree strongly with this statement. But most people seem to think that having a subgroup with "verboten" opinions is a liability, not an asset.
      - ionforce 11y ago
        I think it depends on the... good-will (?) of the crowd. Like if both sides are willing to engage in reasoned debates, I don't see anything wrong with dissent. But if one side is trolling or won't engage in good faith, then I would say that those types of people shouldn't be able to stick around. That's poisonous. And their continued existence lends credence to unfounded ideas. I don't think this issue of sexism is so cut-and-dry. A lot of it is informed and shaped by people's personal experiences and we'll never have view of everyone's experiences with 100% clarity. There will always be this natural tension when mixing "well, I'm skeptical of your claim" with "well, you should trust what I'm saying" from a disenfranchised party.
SeanDav 11y ago
Almost all problems with gender discrimination in tech that get my attention, originated here in HN. I seriously doubt that the majority of the HN community would in any way be in favour of sweeping gender issues under the carpet.
tomp 11y ago
> gender discrimination isnt really a problem Nobody sane would agree with this, and it's a totally skewed image of the real compliant many people have. The real argument is, that it's much more likely the person isn't sexist, but a common asshole, as it's really hard to distinguish between the two.

worldsayshi 11y ago

But this article doesn't really say or support that "there is no problem". Rather that it's sort of important to have both carrots and sticks. Having just one of them will entirely kill the motivation of doing anything about it. edit: It's quite possible that I misread what you are trying to say here...

varjag 11y ago

We must be reading different editions of HN, because I see them here regularly. The GitHub CoC related stuff alone had the frontpage several times.

golergka 11y ago

> pretty much the only article about gender discrimination that is allowed to be on the hacker news front page WTF? There have been dozens of articles about gender discrimination on HN front page, and comments have always been supportive. In what alternate reality do you live?

DanBC 11y ago
> and comments have always been supportive. There's a sizable minority of HN commenters who deny sexism exists.
- SeanDav 11y ago
  Almost invariably there will be a minority of any community that will disagree with any issue. What makes HN interesting is that it will never be the same minority. I would take exception on your use of the word "sizeable", but we could debate that one all day and not get anywhere, so I wont bother.
  - daleharvey 11y ago
    > Am I the only one who thinks "sexism" is overrated? > I'm still not convinced that the lack of women in tech is due to sexism. Maybe women just aren't as excited by the field as men? >> Stories like mine should become the norm, not the exception. > We don't know if that is not the case already. The echo chamber is powerful and viral. Given the comments that happen in these threads, I am not sure whether its the word 'sizeable' or 'minority' in question.
- tomp 11y ago
  There's a sizable minority of HN commenters that perceive (or misconstrue) any questioning as straight denial.
- golergka 11y ago
  > There's a sizable minority of HN commenters who deny sexism exists. It's always good to have a minority that questions the consensus. Even if this minority is something completely idiotic, like a "flat earth society".
  - jnbiche 11y ago
    I agree strongly with this statement. But most people seem to think that having a subgroup with "verboten" opinions is a liability, not an asset.
    - ionforce 11y ago
      I think it depends on the... good-will (?) of the crowd. Like if both sides are willing to engage in reasoned debates, I don't see anything wrong with dissent. But if one side is trolling or won't engage in good faith, then I would say that those types of people shouldn't be able to stick around. That's poisonous. And their continued existence lends credence to unfounded ideas. I don't think this issue of sexism is so cut-and-dry. A lot of it is informed and shaped by people's personal experiences and we'll never have view of everyone's experiences with 100% clarity. There will always be this natural tension when mixing "well, I'm skeptical of your claim" with "well, you should trust what I'm saying" from a disenfranchised party.

SeanDav 11y ago

Almost all problems with gender discrimination in tech that get my attention, originated here in HN. I seriously doubt that the majority of the HN community would in any way be in favour of sweeping gender issues under the carpet.

tomp 11y ago

> gender discrimination isnt really a problem Nobody sane would agree with this, and it's a totally skewed image of the real compliant many people have. The real argument is, that it's much more likely the person isn't sexist, but a common asshole, as it's really hard to distinguish between the two.