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by interpol_p 3904 days ago
I work in a male-dominated office with only two women and have been trying to share these stories with my coworkers at every opportunity. I can see it starting to make a difference. Just the other day one of my male colleagues came up to me and said "I can't believe I used to think like that," referring to a comment where a man justified sexist behaviour by calling it "normal." There is such a long road ahead of us.

If you're looking for more stories of difficulties faced by women in tech, a previous colleague of mine wrote this account of her internships and university degree: http://words.samipeachey.com.au/?p=77
1 comments
zxcvcxz 3904 days ago
Sexism is normal in our society. The top rated television shows are filled with sexist and off color jokes, but you rarely see the feminists trying to take down The Simpsons. So how can you take them seriously when they seem to be focused on calling all programmers who aren't proactively brigading for their political ideology a "racist" or "sexist" while not paying much attention to the root causes of sexism?

The reality is that media from the 50's, 60's, 70's, etc was much more racist/sexist than media today. Society has come a long way. Society is still progressing. Things aren't going to change over night. But the feminists seem to suggest that things are getting worse or are worse now than they've ever been.

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interpol_p 3904 days ago
In my post I suggested things are getting better, but we still have a long road ahead. It sounds like you agree.

Jokes in TV shows are absolutely not what I am referring to. I am referring to situations in which your colleagues — or even your bosses — make value judgments of your person on the basis of gender. I am referring to what the parent article and the article I linked directly confront.

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AnimalMuppet 3904 days ago
> But the feminists seem to suggest that things are getting worse or are worse now than they've ever been.

I'd guess that it's because the feminists see the progress, and therefore start having hope that women might not be forever stuck with a worse deal than men. And then, once you have hope, the existing situation seems more intolerable than before. It's not worse than it was, it just feels worse, because you now allow yourself to hope for better.

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