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Having that name and wearing the bikini means that much of her popularity will be because of sex appeal, with relatively little being because of the merits of h
by Jiro 5y ago
Having that name and wearing the bikini means that much of her popularity will be because of sex appeal, with relatively little being because of the merits of her actions or her writings. As this is Hacker News, not Virtual Idol News, this absolutely means that anything about her that is related to her actions or her writings should be viewed with the utmost skepticism.
Also, calling herself sexy and wearing a bikini is specifically aimed at males, so no defense of her should include the phrase "white male". Of course most people paying attention to anything she does are male--she's doing that deliberately!
Finally, the Halo Effect is a thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_effect
- klyrs 5y ago> Also, calling herself sexy and wearing a bikini is specifically aimed at males Women who are attracted to women exist. It's possible to think that yourself is sexy without desiring external attention. What you're doing here is projecting and victim-blaming.
- 2muchcoffeeman 5y agoShe’s explained many times how the gay and lesbian scene that she identifies with works in parts of Asia. I think she’s sincere as she’s mentioned her relationships on Twitter. She’s not appealing to males. She’s appealing to specific types of lesbians. I think this part of her complaint with western media is legit. They all just assume that she’s doing it for the views. Ignore the gay and lesbian scene in Asia entirely to come up with a fake narrative. Completely ignore that she has done some good work just because of the way she looks. Then go on and on about inclusivity and LGBT rights. Even Adam Savage’s Tested.com seems to have snubbed her. They requested a few CR-30s be sent over for review but then <some shenanigans> And the review never came and I guess they never sent them back to her.
- Jiro 5y ago>She’s not appealing to males. Calling yourself "sexy" and dressing in a bikini appeals to males, and males greatly outnumber lesbians, and that will lead to lots of male twitter followers who would not follow her if all she had were her actions and words. She can't not know this stuff. You can argue that she isn't deliberately appealing to men, but at some point, "in the knowledge that" is indistinguishable from "deliberately" by anyone who can't read minds.
- 2muchcoffeeman 5y agoI’m sure she knows that her appearance has a massive overlap with male fantasies and that affects her followers. But what does that have to do with the work she does? And why is that her problem? Given the snubs she’s received, I’d argue that her appearance actually costs her. If she looked more like the western ideal of a female lesbian hacker she’d get more work and sponsorships.
- Jiro 5y ago>But what does that have to do with the work she does? She's doing something that makes it look like she's gaining fans for reasons unrelated to the quality of her work. People will be skeptical of the work of a person who trades on something other than her work.
- 2muchcoffeeman 5y agoSkepticism is one thing. But it certainly appears that she continually gets snubbed. After all this time the media, popular personalities, maker communities that espouse inclusivity didn’t once look at her work? Got the first mass produced Infinite Z printer to market - still skeptical? Got Chinese companies to comply to open source licenses - still skeptical? Makes a bunch of stuff - still skeptical? Naomi certainly does seem right that all these communities are judging her on her appearance.
- sho_hn 5y ago> Having that name and wearing the bikini means that much of her popularity will be because of sex appeal, with relatively little being because of the merits of her actions or her writings. I think that honestly underestimates the amount of work that goes into being a consistently successful tech-themed content creator: Wearing a bikini isn't enough to brave competition and short-lived attention spans in that space. Being attractive helps in media, for sure, but you can't go on without putting work into the essential content for very long.
- kaitai 5y agoLast time I wore a bikini I was at an all-women's conference. I thought I was wearing it because it was hot, I was in Palm Springs, and I was at the pool. Thank you for telling me I have been doing it wrong. No wonder I was underpaid at the time....
- Jiro 5y agoA pool is a social context in which a bikini is expected. Investigative reporting isn't.