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I'd encourage this for a thought experiment. Take a step back. Bottle your immediate reaction to this article. Starting asking yourself a few questions. Why

by jfarmer 15y ago

I'd encourage this for a thought experiment. Take a step back. Bottle your immediate reaction to this article. Starting asking yourself a few questions. Why did the author react this way to the introduction? Why do so many people in the comments seem to agree? Avoid easy, dismissive answers. "Because they're illogical," "because they're too sensitive," "because they're not thinking this through," etc. are not good answers. They're easy answers. If it helps pretend there's a woman upset by this sitting across the table from you. Have a conversation with her. The goal is to really understand why she's upset. Or imagine what the husband in the audience felt -- if I were him, I'd be a little embarrassed and apologize to my wife afterwards. I'd also send a follow-up email to the moderator and the person who organized the conference voicing my displeasure (as the husband). I'm not being flippant. Think deeply about why people are reacting this way, and avoid easy answers.

NinetyNine 15y ago
I think you have a very good point, and a great technique. In general, it works great when reacting to things. In this case though, you have a third party journalist complaining that a racy joke is a cultural set back to an entire group of people ("startup guys"). It's pretty far out there. The commenters are mostly agreeing with a generalization of the headline, something along the lines of "there is too much sexism in tech", which is probably true.
- jfarmer 15y ago
  All but the most blatant examples of sexism (and racism -- "food stamp President" anyone?) are like this. At worst they seem insensitive, at least in isolation. That's why it's so easy to talk about getting a thicker skin, etc. I know this will seem like I'm dismissing you, but looking at your profile I see you're a current student at RIT. There is a backdrop here and it's hard to see from the other side of the country. Heck, it's hard to see right here in Silicon Valley unless you're in the middle of it and sensitive to it. Many people are the former, but not the latter. You might accuse me of using weasel words -- "many people," "most instances," etc. -- and I won't blame you. What I can say, though, is that there's a lot between the lines here. Anyone who spends time in Silicon Valley and isn't completely unaware sees it and knows it. See my top-level comment on this thread: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3573674 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3573674
  - NinetyNine 15y ago
    My profile is outdated, I've been working in the valley for 8 months. If anything, the sexism at RIT was far more widespread.
kafkaesque 15y ago
Extremely well put. If we wanted to give it a name, as a point of reference to research this more, I'd say it boils down to "ethics".
- deleted 15y ago
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FeministHacker 15y ago
It's great to see that I'm not the only one who likes to use this approach! :) That is probably the best example of this tactic I've seen, very well written. [Also, I couldn't let this comment thread go without this nick getting an outing ;)]

by jfarmer 15y ago

NinetyNine 15y ago

I think you have a very good point, and a great technique. In general, it works great when reacting to things. In this case though, you have a third party journalist complaining that a racy joke is a cultural set back to an entire group of people ("startup guys"). It's pretty far out there. The commenters are mostly agreeing with a generalization of the headline, something along the lines of "there is too much sexism in tech", which is probably true.

jfarmer 15y ago
All but the most blatant examples of sexism (and racism -- "food stamp President" anyone?) are like this. At worst they seem insensitive, at least in isolation. That's why it's so easy to talk about getting a thicker skin, etc. I know this will seem like I'm dismissing you, but looking at your profile I see you're a current student at RIT. There is a backdrop here and it's hard to see from the other side of the country. Heck, it's hard to see right here in Silicon Valley unless you're in the middle of it and sensitive to it. Many people are the former, but not the latter. You might accuse me of using weasel words -- "many people," "most instances," etc. -- and I won't blame you. What I can say, though, is that there's a lot between the lines here. Anyone who spends time in Silicon Valley and isn't completely unaware sees it and knows it. See my top-level comment on this thread: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3573674 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3573674
- NinetyNine 15y ago
  My profile is outdated, I've been working in the valley for 8 months. If anything, the sexism at RIT was far more widespread.

kafkaesque 15y ago

Extremely well put. If we wanted to give it a name, as a point of reference to research this more, I'd say it boils down to "ethics".

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

FeministHacker 15y ago

It's great to see that I'm not the only one who likes to use this approach! :) That is probably the best example of this tactic I've seen, very well written. [Also, I couldn't let this comment thread go without this nick getting an outing ;)]