[king_jester]

> "Role models" have never been part of the equation for me.

This is the key sentence right here. For myself as a cis man, there are SO MANY more roles models that I see and hear about than many other group of people. It doesn't matter if you feel that you don't need role models because you grew up in a world where those kinds of people get the most amount of attention.

For women in tech it is completely different. Women in tech aren't visible. Sexist attitudes and news stories dominate the discussions about women in tech. Can you imagine how off putting that is to someone who likes tech? Would you want to spend your life working in a field where your very existence as a woman will be a constant source of harassment and experience erasure? That your skill will be questioned automatically because of your gender?

To suggest that such a site as Women and Tech is "reverse sexist" is ludicrous, because it is NOT sexist to provide safe spaces and outlets for people who are ignored and silenced in popular media (the web is the predominant popular media source for tech).