3 ms·

I think you've missed the point of the use of bears and foxes in the analogy. It was supposed to remove any hint of gender. Notice he didn't mention the bears w

• pekk 12y ago
  The analogy mentioned quota programs, special scholarships, etc. But in reality there is not even allegedly any such thing aimed only at people who are non-nerds, so unfortunately these things have to be interpreted as being about gender. Which causes the whole analogy to be interpreted as being about gender, and causes a lot of controversy, because it sounds like it's saying that women can't take the role of the "bear" in the story. In fact there have been many women (like Rear Admiral Grace Hopper) who took that role without special scholarships or quotas or whatever. They were bears. So it feels unfair for the analogy to apparently imply that these women didn't have any innate talent and just came into the field to be called special. So if I am charitable, the analogy has a significant imperfection which is encouraging a negative response that misses any more constructive point which might have been there.
  • jquery 12y ago
    Great point. I think a story involving red/blue colors to the foxes/bears could make the analogy more accurate. You are absolutely right there are female bears and male foxes.
  • xtrumanx 12y ago
    > But in reality... It's a story. For a minute try to take it as it is; a story about bears and foxes and let's try to distinguish if the bears are treated justly. The point is to establish common ground. If we can't agree about what is just within the boundaries of our fictitious little story we'll have little hope to agree of what is just in the real world.