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Yes, they do. It's just that Men have no reason to feel unsafe, because they are in the majority, Indeed, the large majority of coding events, seminars, lecture

by alxjrvs 14y ago

Yes, they do. It's just that Men have no reason to feel unsafe, because they are in the majority, Indeed, the large majority of coding events, seminars, lectures, terminology, etc - are geared towards men. This is the same argument as someone loudly asking "Why isn't there a White Entertainment Television channel?" There is. It is every other channel on TV, where the default assumption of an audience member is a white (and typically male) human in their 30's. We have no reason to feel unsafe.

sp332 14y ago
Men have no reason to feel unsafe... until they lose their jobs over a joke. Edit: OK I admit that was kind of unconstructive. My real point is: men get harassed by women and groups of women all the time. It might not be a problem at most tech events. Just don't pretend it never happens.
manicdee 14y ago
"Men have no reason to feel unsafe, because they are in the majority" Prey animals don't share your optimism. They live lives of eternal vigilance. To a gazelle, the price of failure in vigilance is death. In a world where it is increasingly becoming more dangerous to step out of line. Racist, sexist or otherwise offensive jokes will cost you your job, regardless of how "safe" you thought the joke was: it only takes someone to interpret the joke as offensive and report it to an authority, and you end up out of a job. The person taking offense is the lion. The person unwittingly causing offense is the gazelle who let down their guard for five seconds. Men have every reason to feel unsafe: because they are in the majority (in certain environments) it is easier to assume that a particular joke will be acceptable to any gathering. The more people are in hearing range of that joke, the more likely it is that someone will regard it as offensive and take disciplinary action. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance and continual self censorship.

by alxjrvs 14y ago

sp332 14y ago

Men have no reason to feel unsafe... until they lose their jobs over a joke. Edit: OK I admit that was kind of unconstructive. My real point is: men get harassed by women and groups of women all the time. It might not be a problem at most tech events. Just don't pretend it never happens.

manicdee 14y ago

"Men have no reason to feel unsafe, because they are in the majority" Prey animals don't share your optimism. They live lives of eternal vigilance. To a gazelle, the price of failure in vigilance is death. In a world where it is increasingly becoming more dangerous to step out of line. Racist, sexist or otherwise offensive jokes will cost you your job, regardless of how "safe" you thought the joke was: it only takes someone to interpret the joke as offensive and report it to an authority, and you end up out of a job. The person taking offense is the lion. The person unwittingly causing offense is the gazelle who let down their guard for five seconds. Men have every reason to feel unsafe: because they are in the majority (in certain environments) it is easier to assume that a particular joke will be acceptable to any gathering. The more people are in hearing range of that joke, the more likely it is that someone will regard it as offensive and take disciplinary action. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance and continual self censorship.