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posted by LaminatorX on Monday April 07 2014, @08:51AM   Printer-friendly
from the Don't-be-a-jerk! dept.

Written in a New York Times article and summarily paraphrased here,

Elissa Shevinsky can pinpoint the moment when she felt that she no longer belonged. She was at a friend's house watching the live stream of the TechCrunch Disrupt hackathon, when she saw that it opened with two men who developed an app called Titstare. After some banter, one of Titstare's developers proudly proclaimed, "This is the breast hack ever."

Ms. Shevinsky felt pushed to the edge. Women who enter fields dominated by men often feel this way. "It's a thousand tiny paper cuts," is how Ashe Dryden, a programmer who now consults on increasing diversity in technology, described working in tech. Women in tech like Shevinsky and Dryden advocate working to change the tech culture from inside-out, but other women like Lea Verou write that,

' women-only conferences and hackathons cultivate the notion that women are these weak beings who find their male colleagues too intimidating...As a woman, I find it insulting and patronizing to be viewed that way.'

This all being hot on the heels of engineer Julie Ann Horvath's departure from Github as a result of similar concern.

Any of you care to address your own personal experiences or opinions regarding the subject matter; as well as the accuracy of the articles' stories compared to the industry-at-large?

 
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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 07 2014, @10:43AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 07 2014, @10:43AM (#27377)

    I'm sorry if you feel offended by my words.
    I sense from your style of commenting that you feel put upon and weak. There is no need for you to feel threatened by women or by gay men.

    Realize that adapting your behavior and maybe even taking small losses to make others feel more welcome is the mark of a great man. This is your chance to be that great man.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 07 2014, @10:58AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 07 2014, @10:58AM (#27384)

    I'm sorry that you feel that I'm offended. Apology accepted, but a bit unnecessary.

    I don't actually feel put upon and weak, either. What's with the insults? A bit emotional about this, aren't you?

    I'll try to decipher your last statement later. Can you give some tips on what you're talking about?