> Or hear out what a person on IRC has to say rather than spewing ad hominems Let me quote from the original article. "When I was 14, I found IRC, and with it

> Or hear out what a person on IRC has to say rather than spewing ad hominems Let me quote from the original article. "When I was 14, I found IRC, and with it, a whole subculture of people that loved the same things that I loved. [...] But the negative attention that came from being a female on IRC far outweighed anything I got from the positive. This was really my only substantial interaction with humans though, so I didn’t know it was weird. I thought that this is just how it was. I didn’t know it was wrong to treat people that way. I saw it happening to other women on IRC, too. Even though I never consciously acknowledged it, women felt like second class citizens to me. Even though my only goal was to learn, it was always a battle being taken seriously. I was constantly being called things like “scene whore” and “clueless” [...]" By the way, please read the article, and the second part.