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Does the fastcompany article title “The Female Supercomputer Designer Who Inspired Steve Jobs” make an undue spectacle of the designer being female? I think tit

Does the fastcompany article title “The Female Supercomputer Designer Who Inspired Steve Jobs” make an undue spectacle of the designer being female? I think titles like these imply that it’s so shocking that a female inspired Jobs and/or did supercomputer design work that her name & individual identity matter less than her gender. They should just put Tamiko Thiel in the title.

smoldesu 5y ago
I was thinking the same thing, and I honestly can't tell. Either way, she had one of the toughest jobs I can imagine and navigated it with badass-tier bravado: that's really what the article should emphasize. Instead of emphasizing the title of "female" over "supercomputer designer", maybe they should have just lead with the Steve Jobs hook (as much as I despise him) and let the reader draw their own conclusions on Thiel.
Causality1 5y ago
It's worse than that. Not only does it make a spectacle of them being female, it implies their accomplishments are only notable because they are female, that those accomplishments would not be special if performed by a man. It's exploitative and infantilizing at the same time.
deleted 5y ago
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elliekelly 5y ago
Why do you consider her gender in the headline a “spectacle” rather than a simple statement of fact? If the headline read “artist” or “Stanford grad” or “Japanese-American” or “MIT alum” rather than “female” would you feel the same way?
- vimacs2 5y ago
  While I didn't get as triggered by the inclusion as the OP, I do have to say that out of the example labels you gave, the only one I would consider a good comparison is "Japanese-American" as she did not choose her gender, ethnicity, nor nationality.
- newsbinator 5y ago
  The Male Supercomputer Designer Who Inspired Steve Jobs That sounds as strange as "Female" does in the title
flowwwgg 5y ago
Not at all. In the 1980s, I imagine that female supercomputer designers were incredibly rare. For one to rise up through the ranks against the tides of sexism in that era and achieve something that ultimately impacted Steve Jobs...yeah, I want to know about that vis-à-vis her being a woman since her experience and achievement is relatively unique to the era.

smoldesu 5y ago

I was thinking the same thing, and I honestly can't tell. Either way, she had one of the toughest jobs I can imagine and navigated it with badass-tier bravado: that's really what the article should emphasize. Instead of emphasizing the title of "female" over "supercomputer designer", maybe they should have just lead with the Steve Jobs hook (as much as I despise him) and let the reader draw their own conclusions on Thiel.

Causality1 5y ago

It's worse than that. Not only does it make a spectacle of them being female, it implies their accomplishments are only notable because they are female, that those accomplishments would not be special if performed by a man. It's exploitative and infantilizing at the same time.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

elliekelly 5y ago

Why do you consider her gender in the headline a “spectacle” rather than a simple statement of fact? If the headline read “artist” or “Stanford grad” or “Japanese-American” or “MIT alum” rather than “female” would you feel the same way?

vimacs2 5y ago
While I didn't get as triggered by the inclusion as the OP, I do have to say that out of the example labels you gave, the only one I would consider a good comparison is "Japanese-American" as she did not choose her gender, ethnicity, nor nationality.
newsbinator 5y ago
The Male Supercomputer Designer Who Inspired Steve Jobs That sounds as strange as "Female" does in the title

flowwwgg 5y ago

Not at all. In the 1980s, I imagine that female supercomputer designers were incredibly rare. For one to rise up through the ranks against the tides of sexism in that era and achieve something that ultimately impacted Steve Jobs...yeah, I want to know about that vis-à-vis her being a woman since her experience and achievement is relatively unique to the era.