3 ms·
> But we don’t have the same reaction for “geeks,” or “techbros”. Because our understanding of neurodiversity is painfully lacking, our culture tends to view me
by jancsika 9y ago
> But we don’t have the same reaction for “geeks,” or “techbros”. Because our understanding of neurodiversity is painfully lacking, our culture tends to view men as a homogenous category, seeing all men as inheritors of privilege and all men as possessing the masculine traits that foster toughness and resilience.
Back in reality, the stereotypes of male nerds/geeks are:
* not interested in activities that leverage masculine traits, like sports
* not interested in the "rough" and often physically abusive hazing activities that go along with sports
* publicly ridiculed for being socially inept, having a hard time interacting with members of the opposite sex, not grooming in the typical way "tough and resilient" males do
Like any stereotypes those are often wrong. Nevertheless they come with enormous empathy-- most humans I know don't condone adolescents getting choked by bullies and will get sad when you tell them stories about it.
Furthermore-- and I don't think I'm alone in this-- my own empathy gap between my stereotype of male "geeks" and male "techbros" couldn't be any wider. I thought people only referred to each other as ${topic}bros to be ironic, the joke being that anyone who would do that seriously is worthy of derision.
- Joeboy 9y agoIn the wider world, the stereotype of male geeks seems to be that having endured all the above we're seeking revenge on society (and especially women) for the wrongs they have inflicted on us. Admittedly in my actual life I don't perceive my actual self to be judged harshly by actual people, but in the abstract I get the strong impression that people like me are pretty awful. Edit: https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=tech+industry+men https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=tech+industry+men . You might get different results but for me the first "positive-looking" story is on page 4 - "The Fittest Guys in Tech - These 10 men break the tech-guy stereotype".
- greenrd 9y agoI guess it's an incentives thing. How much pushback do journalists ever get in their lives for writing lazy, uninformed and inaccurate articles like that? I'd guess jack squat, because we probably all think we have better things to do with our time than write letters of complaint to the editor. And we're probably right to think so.
- mpweiher 9y ago> Nevertheless they come with enormous empathy Where? I find the exact opposite to be the case.