| > Still reads as mostly anecdotes to me. I know enough women who are not subject to such abuse to know that it is a tiny minority that is. That mindset, right there, is part of the problem, and is a large part of why you're getting downvoted. > I wish oblivious (apparently) responses like mine would actually get valid feedback/criticism Here you go: 1) You do not know anywhere close to a statistical sample. 2) You are unlikely to directly observe most abuse. 3) If and when you observe such abuse, you are unlikely to recognize all of it as such. (The most blatant of it, sure, that's obvious. The worst of it, though, is often more subtle and pervasive.) 4) People you know are not necessarily inclined to share their experiences with you. That holds doubly true if you are (or are perceived as being) in a position of authority. See http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/I_asked_a_woman_and_she_s... for a variation on the theme; also see http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Lived_experience . If you're interested in more such issues, I'd recommend reading around on that wiki, particularly about silencing/derailing/etc tactics. > I really wish people would concentrate on finding out what motivates people to harass and abuse I understand this mindset; it'd be nice to root-cause and fix problems rater than having to work around them. However, sadly, often the motivation is "she's successful" or "people are listening to her". (And if you're looking for the underlying motivation below that, that makes people so broken that they'd harass others: who knows, but that seems unlikely to lead anywhere near a solution. There's no excuse for such harassment.) > I have learned nothing today except to never ever participate in a discussion of these issues. That was my initial reaction when I first started hearing about these issues. In any area where you don't have experience, it helps to listen first, and learn more, before jumping in. I spent a long time lurking on LKML before I started hacking on Linux. I spent a long time reading about FOSS licenses before I started dealing with licensing issues. The reaction you're getting is a lot like the reaction you'd get if, in response to an intricate kernel patch, you asked questions (and made some incorrect assumptions) about basic C programming concepts. In general, the comments or discussion surrounding someone's experiences with harassment are not a good place to ask intro-level questions. There are a few places for such questions, as well as many resources where you can read about these issues. The Geek Feminism wiki is a great place to start. |
> However, sadly, often the motivation is "she's successful" or "people are listening to her".
Sources please!
The wikis you linked seems highly loaded and written with agenda. The writing is purely self-serving(?), without criticism of itself. I am sure whoever wrote that feels it is the right way, but I don't see much value in that myself.
The FLOSSPOLS survey linked seems very interesting and objective though, thank you!