Over on the Men’s Rights subreddit, elegantchorus has provided the definitive mansplaination as to why the apparent sexism in the tech world isn’t really sexism.
He starts by addressing one recent controversy: the lack of any female presenters at a press event for Sony’s Playstation 4. Sexism — or just the whimsical finger of fate?
Sony not having female presenters at its console announcement because Sony doesn’t have any female executives, MIGHT be sexist, but its more just coincidence … .
What a strange coincidence that is! Sort of like, I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed this, but all the popes so far have been men. Weird! What are the odds? Anyway:
[T]here is certainly great examples of women in leading positions in important tech companies. Marissa Mayer of Yahoo comes immediately to mind.
That certainly is great examples!
Yet people spent a lot of time talking about how sexist the Sony conference was, while giving relatively few props to women who have actually succeeded, I actually think that’s more sexist than anything the IT industry can conjure.
Yeah. I mean, Kotaku ran an actual article about that Sony thing. Yet where — WHERE!!!? — are the articles about Marissa Mayer, or about that Sheryl chick from Facebook. What’s her last name?
Sheryl Sandberg! That’s right. I wonder how Google knew that. I mean, it’s not like she gets much press coverage. Oh well. Kudos to the male programmers at Google for figuring out which Sheryl I meant!
Anyway, enough with the discussions of actual women in tech. Elegantchorus moves on to the truly important question to deal with when we talk about women in the tech world, which is: where are all the lady coal miners?
The complaints about apparent inequality are always directed towards jobs like Computer Science and Engineering but never towards something like Coal Mining.
You’ve got to admit he’s got a point there. I mean, why are these selfish ladies all worked up about being excluded from high-paying jobs that involve sitting on your butt in front of a computer in a nice office instead of the really dangerous ones that take place deep underground? Why are women more interested in good jobs than in not-so-good jobs?!
It’s quite the GOTCHA moment. I mean, feminists NEVER EVER talk about getting more women into mining, except, you know, when they do. And it’s quite telling that there are ZERO organizations devoted to expanding the number of women in the mining industry except for, you know, the Women’s Mining Coalition and Women in Mining International, and maybe others, I don’t know, which obviously don’t count because of reasons.
Why aren’t there more Coal Mining women? Is the coal mining industry inherently sexist? If you can’t take that question seriously, why should I take the concern about the IT industry seriously?
Seriously, what a ridiculous notion! Sexism … in the mining industry? Pshaw! Women have always been welcomed into the mines with open arms — and some good-natured ribbing! Consider this amusing anecdote I found on the Internet.
The women who broke ground as coal miners faced discriminatory hiring practices from the owners as well as sexual harassment from men who felt threatened by the demands of the women to be treated as human beings, equal in every way. Barbara Angle, a mining woman, said, “There were three women and 300 men in my mine. They used to ‘joke’ with me. “Hey, just set up a cot at the pit mouth and you’ll make more each shift than if you mine.”
It’s funny because women are really only useful as vagina suppliers to men!
Meanwhile, I’d like to add, while feminists sit on their butts and don’t do anything about the lack of women in mining, except organizing and filing lawsuits and all that, bold and courageous Men’s Rights activists have been active indeed in trying to increase the number of men in glamorous female-dominated professions like, you know, housekeeping. Selfish ladies, bogarting 89% of the housekeeping jobs! And 97% of the secretary jobs!
You may recall the chants that filled the air at last year’s Men For Crappy-Paying Lady Jobs rally* in Washington DC.
What do we want?
To be secretaries!
When do we want it?
Right before your 11 o’clock appointment, sir!
And besides, though elegantchorus doesn’t get into this, women are simply not biologically suited for high-paying jobs in tech, just as men are biologically incapable of taking jobs as dental hygienists.
As a Redditor named lbzip2 explained in a comment posted in the thread, women
lack the necessary attention to detail. They are simply not interested in it. Guess what, they have no place here, just like I could never be a historian or translator or lawyer or doctor, because I hate meeting new people. I’m not “enforcing” this or some shit like that, I simply accept that most girls are like this for whatever reason and I’m not trying to force them into IT.
As for those ladies who for some crazy reason actually want to work in the tech world, lbzip2 offers nothing but respect, and the occasional sexist joke:
I treat my female coworkers with respect, I politely discuss technical stuff with them if they feel like. I do make sexist jokes if I was able to get to know them sufficiently before, like any healthy male. They mostly laugh and if they don’t, I apologize and tune it down.
They mostly laugh!! So obviously the sexist jokes are fine, and probably not even sexist. Did you hear the one about the lady miner and the cot?
Yet some ladies bizarrely think that the deck is stacked against them in tech:
“Missing out on best career opportunities?” Well, concentrate on the fucking task at hand, not irrelevant details. Suppose I’d like to work in a fuckin’ bakery but hate that the clothes are white (which doesn’t mean in the least that they are clean). So who will start a crusade for me? If the circumstances of your otherwise coveted dream-job are accidental, try to change them. If they are intrinsic, live with them or leave.
Oh, and speaking of things that are stacked:
In my college class we had this beautiful girl with huge boobs. She was smarter than any guy in the whole class. Did we envy her? Did we hate her? Hell no. We respected her and we constantly tried to bring her in discussions for her insights. Did we talk about her body among ourselves? Hell yes, we’re no monks!
Boobs.
Boobs boobs boobs.
Booooooobs.
Oh, sorry.
Anyway, all you gals who don’t like sexist jokes at tech conferences, consider this: lbzip2 doesn’t like to travel!
Women consider sexist jokes repugnant in conference presentations? Well, I don’t go to no fucking conference, because I hate to travel, I hate to spend money, I hate the crowd.
Q.E. fuckin D! Male logic defeats weird lady feeeelings once again!
So, in conclusion, ladies don’t belong in the tech world, and there’s nothing whatsoever sexist about that. Also boobs.
—
*The Men For Crappy-Paying Lady Jobs rally is imaginary. The chant is real, though, in that I said it out loud a couple of times to my cats.
Fish? Bicycle? Uncle Elmer, did you mean to invoke this famous phrase?
“A woman needs a man, like a fish needs a bicycle.”
This slogan is often attributed to Gloria Steinem. Other claims for origination point to Flo (Florynce) Kennedy, or to an anonymous author who painted the slogan on a wall at University of Wisconsin in 1969.
Gloria Steinem had this to say in a letter she wrote to Time magazine in autumn 2000:
“In your note on my new and happy marital partnership with David Bale, you credit me with the witticism ‘A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.’ In fact, Irina Dunn, a distinguished Australian educator, journalist and politician, coined the phrase back in 1970 when she was a student at the University of Sydney. She paraphrased the philosopher who said, ‘Man needs God like fish needs a bicycle.’ Dunn deserves credit for creating such a popular and durable spoof of the old idea that women need men more than vice versa.”
Irina Dunn later confirmed Steinem’s version of events, in January 2002:
“Yes, indeed, I am the one Gloria referred to. I was paraphrasing from a phrase I read in a philosophical text I was reading for my Honours year in English Literature and Language in 1970. It was ‘A man needs God like a fish needs a bicycle’. My inspiration arose from being involved in the renascent women’s movement at the time, and from being a bit of a smart-arse. I scribbled the phrase on the backs of two toilet doors, would you believe, one at Sydney University where I was a student, and the other at Soren’s Wine Bar at Woolloomooloo, a seedy suburb in south Sydney. The doors, I have to add, were already favoured graffiti sites.”
Oh. You were just making a lame joke instead, Elmer? Whoops.
Sorry, maybe the fishsicle was attacking JtO with boxcutters and he was defending himself?
And I know PZ Myers doesn’t even consider debating unworthy opponents, but I wish he would reconsider just for the mockery considerations. Maybe PZ against JtO and Uncle Elmer? I would Pay-Per-View the hell out of that. 😀
An Aussie came up with that phrase?
AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE OY OY OY
/idiot-style patriotism
Wouldnt it have to have been thirty fishsicles with boxcutters? JtO never gets attacked by fewer than thirty people/fish/whatever.
I’d watch PZ vs JtO just to see JtO go into a frothing rage. It’d be priceless.
Well of course it was thirty — no, fifty — no, five hundred fishsicles with boxcutters. The picture was clearly shopped!
Not boxcutters! Kukri knives! Machetes! Scimitars! Thermo-nuclear warheads!
Kitteh, Aussies are cool. *fistbump*
*fistbump back*
Well, some of us, anyway! 🙂
😉
Aww, Elmer is flailing to make it look like he didn’t just misspell “bitch” while asserting his intellectual superiority. It’s so precious.
Isnt the centurion wrong? Because it is motion towards a place, shouldn’t it be the accusative. If I’ve understood it correctly, the locative is used when something exists in a place (Well, it would still be Romani, ite domum!)
I don’t think this has been linked so far in this thread, but there’s an interesting documentary about the women who programmed ENIAC:
http://www.topsecretrosies.com/
At the end they talk about how they were never recognized by the military, and they weren’t even invited to the ceremony honoring the contribution of the unit to the war effort.
I discuss computer in-put devices vis-a-vis gendernormative social mores in Spearhead’s new “LifeStyle” section :
http://www.the-spearhead.com/2013/03/30/price-drop-on-alphasmart-neo
I discuss a lot of shit at my blog too, Elmer.
http://artistryforfeminismandkittens.wordpress.com/
The difference is, my blog isn’t a haven for angry bigots.
The idea of The Spearhead having a Lifestyle section is hilarious.
“7 great ideas on how to put women back in their place at the office”
“How to decorate your man cave to fully demonstrate your contempt for women”
“The idea of The Spearhead having a Lifestyle section is hilarious.”
Thanks.
You Might Also Like :
A Man Wants a Wife, Not a Co-Worker
http://www.the-spearhead.com/2012/02/20/a-man-wants-a-wife-not-a-co-worker
So that made me think, “I wonder if the LA Times has a Lifestyle section” which led me to their Living section, where I found this mammoth-themed story.
Or maybe they were going more for “I shaved the wooly mammoth for you?”
Were we supposed to care what you want?
Funny, I’d rather have a job than a marriage to an insecure asshole.
HAHAHA, Spreadhead Lifestyle section.
“10 Ways to Keep That Bitch Pregnant and in the Kitchen.”
NightShadeQueen, seconded.
I wonder what happens when manly menz lose their jobs? Is it suddenly all right if their wives manage to get work, or is the little woman expected to starve alongside him so as not to upset his precious precious ego?
No shit, NightShadeQueen. If I were married to a sad insecure dude like Elmer, I would divorce him with a quickness.
Also – a little bit of advice, Elmer.
1) When you’re writing, please try to be clear and make transitions more obvious. Your computer blog post wanders all over the place.
2) If you don’t like word, don’t use word. Miktex works wonders on Windows.
3) Just because you can’t operate your wife’s cameraphone doesn’t mean cameraphones suck. It means you can’t operate cameraphones.
4) Honestly, it’s 2013. Get used to it.
A woman wants some warm Marcona almonds not a radish. A dog wants a chew toy not a snare drum.
Are we just listing things that some specific living creatures prefer to other things? It’s kind of a boring game.
Mmmmmm, Marcona almonds. Delish. Especially with sharp cheese and Castelvetrano olives.
I recently had a kale salad that had Marcona almonds in it. The kale was in thin ribbons, and dressed with a garlicky lemon dressing, with almonds and slivers of dates.
I know I’m talking a lot about kale these days. You’re probably all thinking, “Oh there goes cloudiah again, droning on and on about kale.” But I don’t care. 😀