On Mon, 7 Feb 2000, Telsa Gwynne wrote:
> > Maybe we should stop asking `Where are the female geeks?' Is it too early
> > in the new Open Source/Linux/whatever movement to be taking a tally and
> > trying to fix something that might be slowly fixing itself allready? I
>
> Ah, but is it fixing itself, or are a few people finally seeing fruit
> in their efforts to encourage other women to keep trying? I don't think
> it's so fixed that it's not worth hastening the process a little. (Um.
> Baaad sentence.)
Very good point. I guess I might re-ask my question. To be honest, I'm a
sociologist at heart and I'm just asking questions because I want to know,
not because I think it's a bad idea. So take this as devil's advocacy, not
as an indication of my desire. Could hastening the change do more damage
than leaving it alone?
> However, I've seen the photos of the crowds there, and it's entirely
> possible to find pictures where not a single woman is visible on them.
>
> Whether women are too bothered about attending the big expos is a
> question that came up on this list before, and I don't think there
> was any conclusion beyond "Perhaps we aren't so interested in expos
> and big events".
I hate people, yet I love gatherings, how ironic. ;) Is expo attendance a
good measure of women involvement? Are there other ways we could measure
the female-quotient of the FSF/OS movement? Maybe I'm over-analytical, but
I'm really curious and want to know.
> Also, it's not just we who ask "Where are the other women?" I must
> admit that Linuxchix tells me where a lot of us are :) Loads of
> people notice it, and numerous magazines run stories about it when
> they're short of news. I do suspect it's a filler thing, but they
> also know they'll get loads of banner ad hits, too, from all the
> replies and rows that follow such a headline. I'm sure I can remember
> at least three "Ask Slashdot"s on it, and I'll bet they link to
> the freshmeat article, and we'll have exactly the same "I'm a woman
> and there's no prejudice; I hate whiny women" replies moderated to
> 5 and "My experience of sexism" lurking down at 0 or 1. If you're
> really lucky, you'll get marked down as flamebait for daring to
> suggest that hackers can be as exclusionary as any other group.
You're talking about Slashdot. As much as I like /., it's /. and probably
won't be anything more than ./. Hrm, freudian punctuation? Slashdot has
it's uses and social change and intelligent discussion are slowly being
phased out I've noticed.
I'm almost done for the day, if I talk much more I'm sure I'll put my foot
in my mouth or make some other horrendous mistake.
Bad Mojo <RPS Figurehead, ThinkPad Pope, SysAdmin>
ICQ:4722638|AIM:BadMojo000|http://www.rps.net/mojo
"When I need to I hit people with the largest weapon I can find: the Earth."
************
[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linuxchix.org
