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> I know this: I am not my job. I am not my industry or its stereotypes. I am a black woman who happens to work in the tech industry. Just be a person. If you'
by coffeemug 12y ago
> I know this: I am not my job. I am not my industry or its stereotypes. I am a black woman who happens to work in the tech industry.
Just be a person. If you're a techie, a black woman, a white man, a gay man, etc. you have to start asking "what does it mean to be a techie, a black woman, a white man, a gay man, ...?" Regardless of the label you pick, you'll end up denying your own feelings and impulses to fit in with the category you choose to associate with. Some categories are more comfortable than others, but the more comfortable the category, the more people expect from you, and the more of yourself you ultimately have to deny. You are who you are, and you feel what you feel. Your own truth ought to be enough.
- jiaaro 12y agoEasy to say for us straight, white men. We've all been in situations that are uncomfortable, that's not news. But imagine a time when you suddenly realized you were the only white person in the room, or the only man in the room. That feeling of, "wait... am I not supposed to be here?" I agree that we ought not to even notice, and I especially agree that we (all humans) shouldn't care. But in real life people do notice, and it's hard not to after someone points it out to you :/
- Dewie 12y ago> Easy to say for us straight, white men. Coffeemug is that? Sorry but I couldn't find any racial/sex/sexuality info on his(?) profile.
- imanaccount247 12y agoIt is easy to say for me too, and I am neither white nor a man. It is easy to say because it is simple reality.
- mahyarm 12y agoStatistically, there's a pretty good chance he would be asian instead. It's something like %60 white (which can be as varied as middle eastern, russian, western european immigrant or american, all very different) and %30 asian. Then it's about %4 black and %4 latino. In the usa, the numbers are around %64 white people, %13 black, %15 hispanic and %5 asian. Most tech companies match the % of whites as the rest of the USA, it's the asian, black and latino numbers that do not match. Blacks and latinos would have to triple and the asians would have to be divided by 7.5 to match the us numbers.
- pXMzR2A 12y ago> Just be a person. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_blindness_%28race%29_in_the_United_States#Criticism_of_color_blindness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_blindness_%28race%29_in_... Also you just argued she has not been a person thus far and that her problems were her fault. Congrats on that.
- coffeemug 12y agoI didn't argue that at all -- that's a very uncharitable interpretation of what I said. Better wording might have been "accept yourself as a person, not as a [INSERT_LABEL_HERE]".
- anigbrowl 12y agoThis would be great advice if we didn't live in a world where many people are in the habit of projecting their subconscious assumptions onto others. One minute you're a complex unique individual treading your own distinctive path through the world and thinking your highly individual thoughts, next minute you're trying to deal with some clown who not only insists on expressing an asinine opinion about you but demands that you furnish a response of some sort.
- jameshart 12y agoThe problem is, you're asking her to choose: techie, black woman, white man or gay man. She's spent a career trying to pass for a 'techie' in a world where everybody wants to assume she's a 'black woman'. In a world where being a 'techie' means wearing t-shirts and jeans, playing FPS's, going out for beers, and basically being a white guy. So yes - she could be a 'techie' - but that means she doesn't get to be a black woman. Diversity doesn't mean 'we let anybody wear a polo shirt and come along to our beer socials'.
- sanderjd 12y agoI think you may have misunderstood the parent. The suggestion is to not choose a label.
- calibraxis 12y agoSociety stamps that label on your forehead. Down to gendered pronouns, which means everyone's communicating your gender label, no matter how irrelevant it is. (Not to mention violent attacks.)
- sanderjd 12y agoI agree that "avoid labels and be yourself" naively ignores societal realities. I was just trying to clarify what looked like a misunderstanding.