Re:When She Codes, The Revolution’s Coming
by Cushman on Sunday January 22, 2012 @09:21PM
(#3498704)
I'm sorry, what? I'm a man, I made a statement about men which I do not find offensive. You edited it to be offensive to women, and that's supposed to make me feel offense?
No. I'd recommend you also ask a woman for her opinion, though, in case my male-ness has prevented me from seeing the obvious.
For future reference, statements made about privileged groups are not, generally, as offensive as those made about the unprivileged. For example:
My general view: if men are avoiding childcare due to the stereotypes and intolerance as you describe, then good riddance.
Re:When She Codes, The Revolution’s Coming
by vectorpush on Sunday January 22, 2012 @10:47PM
(#3498909)
His point is that it's offensive to prejudge all men in tech as incapable or unwilling to treat women as equal individuals. This sentiment is rooted in the idea that most men are not sexist, chauvinist, assholes. Those individuals who can't even be bothered to endure the torment of a male teacher lest they be patronized or spoken to with a tone of condescension are probably not well balanced people.
From another perspective, would you think it reasonable for black men to avoid tech because of "a thousand previous encounters with [white]men who were abjectly unable to interact with [black individuals] in a way that left them feeling comfortable"?
They're not afraid of this by chance; this is a rational fear arising from a hundred, a thousand previous encounters with women, even women in management, who were abjectly unable to interact with men in a way that left them feeling comfortable. This is of course not to say that such women do not exist, as they surely do. But after a decade or two of experience, why roll the dice?
Now that I've flipped the genders, do you see how offensive your comment is?
My general view: if women are avoiding computing due to the stereotypes and intolerance as you describe, then good riddance.