[HedgeMage]

Sure, it might be awkward at first for girls who don't have a lot of experience in mixed-gender environments. If it's a friendly mixed-gender environment, the awkwardness wears off pretty soon. I've watched it happen.

On the other hand, "foo for women" events are high-pressure environments that put a spotlight on poor newbies. It's a way of saying "You aren't just here to learn something, you're representing women, you're here to prove something for all of us". It implies that the mainstream groups aren't safe or okay places for women to learn. Additionally, they prevent those newbie women from learning the social scripts and memes that will help them fit in with mainstream hacker culture (or even programmer culture), so they get to be total outsiders as juniors instead of as freshmen, which really sucks.

[supersystem]

I don't think anyone, regardless of gender, should be forced to "fit in with mainstream hacker culture".

[Rylinks]

Would you say the same about the mainstream culture in other fields, or is it hacker culture in particular?

[mtrimpe]

I've actually found that quite a few of the attendees of these events are usually people who already (are trying to) fit in with mainstream hacker culture, but whom often experience similar kinds of challenges in doing so and enjoy being able to both openly discuss these things and not have to worry about them for a bit. Was that different at the events you visited?