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She's a beauty and a geek: Supermodel is a coder
- animus9 13y ago"The term 'software engineer' conjures images of pasty-faced young men with poor posture and limited social skills." ... "We have this idea of people in technology being and looking a certain way," she said. "That stereotype is destructive, and I think that's part of the reason why female and minority programmers are so few." ... Her personal opinions and prejudices aside, the article is a tad hypocritical. It's hard to tell to whom the stereotype is most destructive. The media has created and maintains the "nerd stereotype", which I would argue is more destructive to those who are classified as such: since they have to overcome a far more general prejudice than lack of visibility in a particular field. CNN has a lot of nerve to use a racial slur such as 'pasty-faced'. I believe the correct term is Caucasian. I am all for dropping the obviously false stereotype about nerds. But let's not paint this particular oppressed group as villains. Do you see what I am doing here? Look for the truth my friends, and come to your own conclusions. Do not be complacent with their lies.
- poorelise 13y agoIf you think about it, the way nerds took over the world was really pure evil genius. They suppressed the non-nerds with their body odor! By not showering, they managed to create an inaccessible elite.
- alexjeffrey 13y ago> CNN has a lot of nerve to use a racial slur such as 'pasty-faced'. I believe the correct term is Caucasian. I really hope this is sarcasm - pasty-faced quite obviously implies Caucasian, but specifically those with a lack of exposure to natural light i.e. being cooped up inside all day long with a computer prevents one from developing a tan.
- ninjac0der 13y agoSo you agree, it's racial and derogatory in it's nature.
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- jamesaguilar 13y agoA racial slur is typically thought of as a slur that is about race. Pasty-faced is not about race. It's about not getting enough sunlight. Race is implied because darker colored people do not look anything like paste when they don't get enough sun. But that race is implied does not mean pasty-faced is any more a racial slur than the negative use of "pale."
- ninjac0der 13y agoLines in the sand you fool.
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- jpatokal 13y agoPlenty of pasty-faced Asian geeks out there as well.
- animus9 13y agoFunny how I am modded down yet the vulgar posts about boobs remain unscathed. Let me add that I do not wish to take anything away from this particular girl's achievements (let them stand on their own): but there is nothing wrong with neutralizing the antagonistic angle imposed upon the story.
- smtddr 13y agoEvery time... Theory: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6441795 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6441795 Potential examples: 1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6885123 - Homeless coder starts app 2. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6365495 - Africans genetically more corrupt? 3. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6448409 - Rick Ross's history 4. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6857739 - Nelson Mandela dies 5. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6035263 - (Most obvious)Resume with black vs white name 6. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6902563 - Cover up racist+sexist mindset in Harvard 7. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6907915 - Homeless coder finishes app 8. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6975732 - BlackGirlsCode event 9. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7040437 - BlackGirlsCode event mentioned in list of female-focused events in tech. I'm going to just keep on collecting these links and post the list on every instance I see. This will be added as the 10th. (Though I will make special note that this instance is probably made worse by the recent spotlight the tech-scene is under in regards to gender inequality).
- yetanotherphd 13y agoYou claim that what is happening is that every time a story than happens to involve a Black person or a woman is posted, people post comments about race/gender to derail the discussion. What is actually happening is that every time a story promoting progressive views on race/gender (this story explicitly mentions gender), people post to disagree with the message of the story.
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- vacri 13y agoBut their arguments will become so spacious that you'll need 5 screen-lengths to debate with them I think you mean 'specious', though I guess 'spacious' also fits that description.
- smtddr 13y agoOh wow, I didn't even know about that word! Now I wish I could edit that old comment.
- yetanotherphd 13y agoYeah, it's hard to see how being looked down on as ugly people with bad social skills is a mark of privilege. I apologize for being such a loser, since its clearly oppressing normal attractive people who want to enter the field. Perhaps their thinking is that if people who are born with the privilege of being White and male end up as losers, then those people must be objectively inferior and so there is nothing wrong with making fun of them. I have trouble following progressive thinking sometimes.
- LordHumungous 13y ago>CNN has a lot of nerve to use a racial slur such as 'pasty-faced'. I believe the correct term is Caucasian. Please spare us your faux outrage. "Pasty faced" is not a racial slur by any reasonable definition of the term.
- codygman 13y agoYou almost had me with the "lot of never to use a racial slur..." part. Also, pasty-faced is the equivalent of ashy-faced (for black people) which is also not a racial slur.
- kimonos 13y agoWow! I really admire people with the "beauty and brain"! Good luck!
- scotty79 13y agoI'd like to see more of coders from different interesting backgrounds having their 5 minutes in the spotlight reaffirmed as coders. I'd like to see dancers who code, news anchormen, judges, soccer players and boxers who code (although last two might be harder with all the micro concussions).
- prezjordan 13y agoHer StackOverflow profile [0] is extremely impressive. [0]: http://stackoverflow.com/users/2274694/lyndsey-scott http://stackoverflow.com/users/2274694/lyndsey-scott
- guiomie 13y agoJon Skeet is impressive. But thanks for the link tho.
- scotty79 13y agoYay I have more points than her. Although my other career besides coding is commenting on HN. Probably significantly less demanding than being supermodel. Wait? She got them in just 9 months? Nevermind.
- TheCoelacanth 13y agoYay, I also have more points. Her 66 thousand profile views absolutely crushes my 154 profile views, though.
- scotty79 13y agoThere are profile views? :-O Wow 331. I never thought of myself as of popular kid!
- BWStearns 13y agoThat is a hell of a lot of green on her answers list. Very cool. I know the article was a bit fluffy- as human interest stuff often is - but I'm impressed. Anyone know her Github?
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- omgbewbz 13y agoomg, boobs!!!! God you people are fucking creepy. Yes, it's a woman, who probably has breasts and a vagina, and she writes code. Why is this even a story?
- yetanotherphd 13y ago>The term 'software engineer' conjures images of pasty-faced young men with poor posture and limited social skills. I'm really confused. Are we onto third or fourth wave feminism yet? I thought body shaming was bad and the modelling industry was evil. Aren't we always being appealed to, as nerds, to empathize with groups that are underrepresented in tech, because we too, didn't fit in in high school?
- sp332 13y agoI thought third wave feminism "took back" modelling and porn? Edit: this isn't a joke, it's something I actually heard from a few sources.
- vezzy-fnord 13y agoNope, there's still no clear consensus between sex-positive, sex-negative and lipstick feminist theorists.
- yetanotherphd 13y agoCool, so in the meantime I will just assume they are all right :)
- sp332 13y agoSo some people think it's ok and others think something different? Damn, I might have to think for myself soon...
- supersystem 13y agoI don't think quoting one thing from the article out of context is "disagree and rather than derail the discussion" as you say in your other comment.
- geuis 13y agoI hope I'm not the only one that feels this way, but seriously, who gives a shit? Look, I'm a 30-something overweight white male programmer. I probably spend equal time, if not more, communicating with people around the world based on their ideas and what they write rather than their physical person. What this means is that I don't care if you're a gay paraplegic cross dressing dolphin, a woman that can't leave her house in the deepest parts of Saudi Arabia, a 12 year old in Australia, or another guy just like me. It. Doesn't. Matter. I'm sure if you're reading this, you know the old joke that no one knows you're a dog behind a keyboard. If you have good ideas and are willing to talk about them, what your background is just doesn't really matter. I've been around long enough that I've talked to everyone, from billionaire kids to poor grandparents. People's ideas and thoughts are more important than anything else to me. I'm glad that this person has had success in multiple areas. Is it remarkable as a news-worthy event? Maybe for CNN, but they aren't exactly a reputable news source these days. For me, and hopefully others, she's just a good programmer. In the end, all that matters is someone's ability to think. Whether they're a supermodel or a dog doesn't fucking matter.
- chaostheory 13y agoYes for us, stuff like this doesn't matter since it's all about ability. So why does she matter? Because regardless of the reality, programming is still seen by the masses as a well paid janitorial function that only uncool, socially inept, nerdy males should do. (Notice that I didn't say could but should.) This is why a lot of people have a "I'm too good to stoop down and do this" attitude, when it comes to things like programming. "That guy should do it instead of me." Programming or most technical occupations just don't command the same level of respect in the West like a finance, legal, or medical job does regardless of the pay. People like Scott give programming a cool and acceptable image for non-techies and people still deciding what they want to be in the future. imo, the main reason females aren't into stuff like programming is because of its negative social perception. LAST EDIT: When I think about it, I'm surprised I haven't read anything addressing this problem when it comes to attracting more females to tech.
- eshvk 13y ago> So why does she matter? Because regardless of the reality, programming is still seen by the masses as a well paid janitorial function that only uncool, socially inept, nerdy males should do. (Notice that I didn't say could but should.) This is why a lot of people have a "I'm too good to stoop down and do this" attitude, when it comes to things like programming. "That guy should do it instead of me." Programming or most technical occupations just don't command the same level of respect in the West like a finance, legal, or medical job does regardless of the pay. And the reality is that a lot of programming jobs are well paid janitorial functions. There is a lot of self delusion happening in the American programming industry that one needs to be a certain level of smartness (Observe posts on how all genius programmers have been programming since their youth). It really doesn't. There is nothing inherently complicated about most pieces of software related work. Note that this doesn't necessarily mean that there is not a lot of hard work in doing this efficiently. It is just that American programmers are loud and opinionated on how it takes years and years to become a good programmer. In India and China, people don't spend time thinking about the level of intellect required to write code, they just do it. In fact, dozens and dozens of them, of both genders. Now, there is a lot of that code that is bad. Yet, that is merely the normal distribution working at scale. People need to think of programming as another job. Just because you were a snowflake and were oppressed in your high school doesn't mean that whatever you do in life is touched with some special magic that makes it inherently removed by people of other sub-cultures.
- booruguru 13y agoThere was very little content in that article. I've noticed this is becoming a trend with a lot of mainstream news sites like CNN and USA Today.
- tonylampada 13y agoBrains aside, personally I don't think she's that beautiful. I know at least 3 female programmers that I consider better looking (2 of them I have worked with).
- codygman 13y agoAre they white?
- tonylampada 13y agoYes, why?
- punkghetto 13y agonegative stereotypes exist for both models (eg cocaine snorting anorexic bimbos) and computer nerds (antisocial smelly boring men who refuse to grow up while living in their mother's basement). who cares? I get the points about the stereotypes in the article, which was pretty shallow. though there did exist the point that people don't always conform to stereotypes. models can be smart, nerds can be attractive.
- melindajb 13y agoBy all means, lets ignore the countless incredible, perhaps in some cases average/normal looking women in tech and focus on one who happens to be also gifted in the looks department (as decided by whom? men? women?) By emphasizing her uniqueness, they're perpetuating the stereotype they claim to abhor.
- daveslash 13y agoFor me, this validates a lot of what I've often felt. I'm tired of being told, by feminists, that the reason I'm in computer science is because "white males are encouraged"; I want to tell them to get shoved in lockers, bullied, dumped in trash cans, harassed in the bathroom, and having the worst dating life in high school -- then tell me how "encouraging" is was. The reason I'm in computer science is because I enjoy it. I've often said to feminist friends that one does not go into computer science because they are encouraged - they often go into it because that's what they like, regardless of what anyone/society tells them. From what I can tell, this woman, the supermodel, felt social pains similar to mine and perused her interest nonetheless. I applaud her for that.
- ps4fanboy 13y agoThis so much, when it happens its very insulting.
- Oculus 13y agoI've been noticing a general trend where news sites follow stories on Quora. Not sure if it's the demographic present on Quora or something else. Lyndsey Scott (model in the article) wrote an answer about her appearances in which she mentioned she's a developer as well on Quora back in December.
- Schwolop 13y agoI've been noticing this too. HN has a definite bias against Quora that stems back to the early stories about its blocking content from non-members.
- sbierwagen 13y agoYeesh.
- admstockdale 13y agoTo all of you saying this doesn't matter and who gives a shit -- get real. There's this deep-seated elitism to programming that is really damaging to all types of backgrounds. The barrier for entry is high enough -- it's great there's a story about someone most wouldn't think of when thinking of a programmer. It benefits those interested in seeing computer science grow as a discipline to have more people in the fold.
- Fundlab 13y agoImpressive