| I am feminist. As a visible minority, heterosexual, cisgendered, able-bodied man I try to be acutely of my own prejudices and cognitive biases. I sympathize with women who experience hostility and chauvinism at tech conferences. "Brogrammers" and male-exclusive behaviour is bad for the industry and should be written about and exposed. What these two men did was not sexist. It was unprofessional but it was not exclusionary. Penis puns can be made by anyone and these comments were not meant for an audience, just the two people in question. While not "appropriate" it's not the same, "it's a joke" defense that many make because the subject matter, a play on the words being euphemisms in not material that excludes or generalizes. Dongles = Penis, Box = Vagina (or workstation), Forking = fucking, etc... is not NECESSARILY exclusionary but of a sexual nature. Context matters. Based on the comments, she took forking out of context. IMHO: These men should have been told that they're a little loud and to knock it off (regardless of the subject matter). They are bot being chauvinists and not being exclusionary. The firing is unfortunate but they sound like a company you don't want to work for anyway. Adria was out of line for taking the photo but she's within her right to document her life/encounters. It does open her up to criticism. Personally I'd avoid her because of her inability to judge context and be easily offended. This incident hurts her credibility and I wouldn't trust her opinion in future incidents. |