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I feel like articles like these are not helping the problem they attempt to solve but rather reinforcing it. An article named "what makes people gifted programm
by dvdcxn 11y ago
I feel like articles like these are not helping the problem they attempt to solve but rather reinforcing it. An article named "what makes people gifted programmers" and then a profile of this talented person who just happens to be a women would do far more good for enforcing the idea that anyone can be a programmer if they develop the right skillset.
Rather than frame the subject as someone beating the statistics, fighting the institution, frame as someone who is just a straight up talented person whose skills speak for themselves.
Let the reader infer that this talented developer is female, as if it was a totally normal, acceptable thing, which it should be.
All this article does say is "LOOK EVERYONE THIS IS A WOMEN THAT HAPPENS TO CODE", as if the only thing that makes a female programmer valuable is their gender.
- meric 11y agoAgreed. It's certainly putting me on the defensive.
- forgottenpass 11y agoWhen I was 10 I watched a episode of Scooby Doo where all the characters took turns looking at the camera to say "ick, drugs" to really drive home the point that drugs are bad. I remember it well because it was the most hamfisted writing I've ever seen. Until I started reading the tech press, that is. The coverage of social issues in tech is a case study of writers snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Which isn't surprising, they're just following the lead of outlets like Jezebel who have done more to set women back than the C-suite of the Fortune 500 ever could.
- makeitsuckless 11y agoThis isn't the tech press. If anything, it's the dead opposite of the tech press. This is the mainstream press, and this is what they have been doing for decades. Including the "ick, drugs" part.
- dvdcxn 11y agoIn my experience, a lot of the left-leaning tech press is guilty of the same thing as this article. Horseshoe theory in action.
- Disruptive_Dave 11y agoI'd also say that ANY blanket, generic statement like this ("Women make gifted coders!") is hardly better than its negative versions ("Italians are loud!"). I don't see how it does anything but reinforce poor behavior.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]