3 ms·

Techs diversity problems start early in school before college. Facebook are just the last mile. The sex based targeting of childrens toys would be a good place

Techs diversity problems start early in school before college. Facebook are just the last mile. The sex based targeting of childrens toys would be a good place to start , but you won't see results for 20 years.

nsxwolf 8y ago
Sex targeted toys sell. Most parents want that for their kids. It's not a conspiracy by the toy companies.
- jonathankoren 8y ago
  I wouldn’t say, “most parents want [sex targeted toys]”. Rather parents give the toys their kids want. Kids want what they see, and the see gender specific toys.
  - ryanmercer 8y ago
    >I wouldn’t say, “most parents want [sex targeted toys]”. Rather parents give the toys their kids want. Kids want what they see, and the see gender specific toys. I don't know. The pink bicycles vs non-pink bicycles thing applies to adults too. See 'pink tax'.
  - JoeAltmaier 8y ago
    Sure its not the parents. Kids 'want' what they see on tv, see their friends have, see who the toy's aimed at etc. Its cultural. Which means, learned.
frgtpsswrdlame 8y ago
I see this a lot and I just don't understand it. Everyone in this problem seems desperate to point the finger to someone else. And it's not just sex, it's race too. Having problems hiring black tech workers? It's the college's fault. Having problems graduating black students with BSs in STEM? It's the high school's fault. Having problems graduating black students from high school? Really it's the fault of the community or family that raised them. Having problems fixing the community's culture? Really it's the fault of poverty. Having problems fixing poverty? Really it's the fact that no good jobs will hire us. This isn't a pipe that just spits kids out when they're about to be hired, every single person in that pipeline is desperate to pretend that it's someone further down the line's problem, except once you go far enough down the pipe you end up back where you started. It's not a linear pipe spitting individual kids out that we just can't do anything about. It's a cycle and wherever it is that we exist in that cycle, be it elementary education or hiring Senior Devs at a FAANG, we have a responsibility to step in and do something about it. Enough passing the buck.
- supreme_sublime 8y ago
  >Having problems fixing poverty? Really it's the fact that no good jobs will hire us. There are only 3 things you need to do in order to not be permanently poor in the US - 1. Graduate High School 2. Don't have kids before you're married 3. Get a job, it doesn't have to be a "good" job. Specifically with black America, it is very obvious that the vast amount of fatherless children is a huge problem. Single motherhood is associated (if not causally linked) with many very negative outcomes. This is a problem of culture and a lack of personal responsibility. Society does not make black Americans have kids disproportionately out of wedlock. Though it could be argued that the welfare programs enacted in the 60's have encouraged this behavior.
  - frgtpsswrdlame 8y ago
    The Success Sequence is bunk, here's some reading on it[1] but the basic idea is that in those three points you laid out number 3 does basically all the explanatory work, number one does a little work and number 2 does almost nothing. >This is a problem of culture and a lack of personal responsibility. Okay then where does that culture problem come from? Does it just emerge from the ether to grab black people and wipe away their "personal responsibility"? No, that culture emerges from the same society you're desperate to exonerate. There are many factors that influence that culture and systemic poverty is a huge one. You want to fix poverty in black America? Great, then hire them. [1] http://www.demos.org/blog/8/5/15/economic-institutions-should-keep-americans-out-poverty-not-norms http://www.demos.org/blog/8/5/15/economic-institutions-shoul... http://www.demos.org/blog/8/13/15/success-sequence-extremely-misleading-and-impossible-code http://www.demos.org/blog/8/13/15/success-sequence-extremely... http://mattbruenig.com/2017/07/31/the-success-sequence-is-about-cultural-beefs-not-poverty/ http://mattbruenig.com/2017/07/31/the-success-sequence-is-ab...
    - supreme_sublime 8y ago
      >The Success Sequence is bunk, here's some reading on it[1] but the basic idea is that in those three points you laid out number 3 does basically all the explanatory work, number one does a little work and number 2 does almost nothing. Interesting, though as the comment on one of those articles mentions, I wonder what would have happened if he had started with not having children out of wedlock, how much of a difference would adding in having a job and graduating high school made? Though he does go on to talk about how getting the number of people who are childless or married when they have children, is difficult. >Okay then where does that culture problem come from? Does it just emerge from the ether to grab black people and wipe away their "personal responsibility"? That's a good question. The Brookings Institute seems to think it is a result of women's sexual liberation and the unrestricted use of contraception. https://www.brookings.edu/research/an-analysis-of-out-of-wedlock-births-in-the-united-states/ https://www.brookings.edu/research/an-analysis-of-out-of-wed...

nsxwolf 8y ago

Sex targeted toys sell. Most parents want that for their kids. It's not a conspiracy by the toy companies.

jonathankoren 8y ago
I wouldn’t say, “most parents want [sex targeted toys]”. Rather parents give the toys their kids want. Kids want what they see, and the see gender specific toys.
- ryanmercer 8y ago
  >I wouldn’t say, “most parents want [sex targeted toys]”. Rather parents give the toys their kids want. Kids want what they see, and the see gender specific toys. I don't know. The pink bicycles vs non-pink bicycles thing applies to adults too. See 'pink tax'.
- JoeAltmaier 8y ago
  Sure its not the parents. Kids 'want' what they see on tv, see their friends have, see who the toy's aimed at etc. Its cultural. Which means, learned.

frgtpsswrdlame 8y ago

I see this a lot and I just don't understand it. Everyone in this problem seems desperate to point the finger to someone else. And it's not just sex, it's race too. Having problems hiring black tech workers? It's the college's fault. Having problems graduating black students with BSs in STEM? It's the high school's fault. Having problems graduating black students from high school? Really it's the fault of the community or family that raised them. Having problems fixing the community's culture? Really it's the fault of poverty. Having problems fixing poverty? Really it's the fact that no good jobs will hire us. This isn't a pipe that just spits kids out when they're about to be hired, every single person in that pipeline is desperate to pretend that it's someone further down the line's problem, except once you go far enough down the pipe you end up back where you started. It's not a linear pipe spitting individual kids out that we just can't do anything about. It's a cycle and wherever it is that we exist in that cycle, be it elementary education or hiring Senior Devs at a FAANG, we have a responsibility to step in and do something about it. Enough passing the buck.

supreme_sublime 8y ago
>Having problems fixing poverty? Really it's the fact that no good jobs will hire us. There are only 3 things you need to do in order to not be permanently poor in the US - 1. Graduate High School 2. Don't have kids before you're married 3. Get a job, it doesn't have to be a "good" job. Specifically with black America, it is very obvious that the vast amount of fatherless children is a huge problem. Single motherhood is associated (if not causally linked) with many very negative outcomes. This is a problem of culture and a lack of personal responsibility. Society does not make black Americans have kids disproportionately out of wedlock. Though it could be argued that the welfare programs enacted in the 60's have encouraged this behavior.
- frgtpsswrdlame 8y ago
  The Success Sequence is bunk, here's some reading on it[1] but the basic idea is that in those three points you laid out number 3 does basically all the explanatory work, number one does a little work and number 2 does almost nothing. >This is a problem of culture and a lack of personal responsibility. Okay then where does that culture problem come from? Does it just emerge from the ether to grab black people and wipe away their "personal responsibility"? No, that culture emerges from the same society you're desperate to exonerate. There are many factors that influence that culture and systemic poverty is a huge one. You want to fix poverty in black America? Great, then hire them. [1] http://www.demos.org/blog/8/5/15/economic-institutions-should-keep-americans-out-poverty-not-norms http://www.demos.org/blog/8/5/15/economic-institutions-shoul... http://www.demos.org/blog/8/13/15/success-sequence-extremely-misleading-and-impossible-code http://www.demos.org/blog/8/13/15/success-sequence-extremely... http://mattbruenig.com/2017/07/31/the-success-sequence-is-about-cultural-beefs-not-poverty/ http://mattbruenig.com/2017/07/31/the-success-sequence-is-ab...
  - supreme_sublime 8y ago
    >The Success Sequence is bunk, here's some reading on it[1] but the basic idea is that in those three points you laid out number 3 does basically all the explanatory work, number one does a little work and number 2 does almost nothing. Interesting, though as the comment on one of those articles mentions, I wonder what would have happened if he had started with not having children out of wedlock, how much of a difference would adding in having a job and graduating high school made? Though he does go on to talk about how getting the number of people who are childless or married when they have children, is difficult. >Okay then where does that culture problem come from? Does it just emerge from the ether to grab black people and wipe away their "personal responsibility"? That's a good question. The Brookings Institute seems to think it is a result of women's sexual liberation and the unrestricted use of contraception. https://www.brookings.edu/research/an-analysis-of-out-of-wedlock-births-in-the-united-states/ https://www.brookings.edu/research/an-analysis-of-out-of-wed...