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I honestly don't understand your comment. It is very difficult for me to parse properly. How is it not sexist towards women for them to hear comments like this?
by zasz 14y ago
I honestly don't understand your comment. It is very difficult for me to parse properly. How is it not sexist towards women for them to hear comments like this? "If I had a dollar for every time someone suggested that some demographics just aren’t biologically predisposed to be good at programming (even though research does not support this argument), I’d be rich."
I grew up hearing my father tell me that I wasn't good at math because I was a girl. Yes, he's fucking sexist, and so is everyone else who thinks that women can't be good at STEM fields. Props to you for apparently taking the time to carefully study your wife and decide she sucks at STEM because of who she is, and not because she's a woman, but there are plenty of engineers, like my father, who are not so kind. It's a constant, constant thorn to women in STEM, all the time, and I for one believe it is a miracle that they do not complain more.
- ceol 14y agoI've heard those exact sentiments expressed on this very website, from people who were sitting at positive karma. It really isn't hard to see sexism in technology. It's a shame every time this subject comes up, guys clamor to be the first to post [dismissive reason] or [request for extremely specific example of sexism]. I mean, this submission is about a woman chronicling sexism against her, and there are guys in here just flat out saying, "This isn't sexist."
- nhangen 14y agoIt's the same for men that want to be nurses is it not? I agree that saying 'girls suck at math' is a bullshit comment, but ignorance is applied equally. Entrepreneurs, especially, get it from all sides. Part of my frustration stems from being tired of the worst class in America - privileged white male that wasn't born in the ghetto, but the rest of it is just tired of people looking for negativity all the time. It doesn't matter who you are, what gender you are, or what the color of your skin is - if you seek to be better than those around you, or different than the paradigm from which they view the world, then they will seek to put you on your ass.
- rmrfrmrf 14y agoHow about channelling your frustration into creating an environment for more women in tech?
- lengarvey 14y agoIgnorance my be applied equally but thanks to privilege as a male you can afford to ignore or dismiss those ignorant comments in a way that a person with less privilege may not be able to. As a male you're told by society that you're allowed to go out, break all the rules and take what you want whereas as a woman you're meant to be quiet, demure and "proper". Bringing up alternate social injustices is generally considered a tactic of diversion. It's not that these other injustices aren't important (they are very important) but it happens with such regularity that it's considered de-railing to the conversation.