Re:Okay, Feminism, It’s Time We Had a Talk About Empathy
by vannevar on Wednesday October 16, 2013 @09:53AM
(#6559614)
I agree, and certainly have no intention to deny the positive. It's just that the author's experience, as she relates it, doesn't sound unusually positive. It sounds typical. What seems unusual is her tolerance for negative experiences. And I can see how her female peers might interpret her attitude as "Hey, suck it up, I did." I'm not sure that their empathy is the problem.
She's absolutely fortunate to be in that position, compared to other women who get more publicly demeaned, and don't get the opportunity to prove the bigots wrong. But it's also important that her story gets told, and that she doesn't get labeled as "the problem" simply because her experience is more positive than that of others.
We need more women with positive experiences in tech. Denying the positive creates the impression that it's hopeless, and there's nothing good regarding equality in the tech world. The good examples exist, and we should see them as beacons, rather than deny their existence. In the end, I hope more women get to experience tech like she did, and more misogynists get their comeuppance.