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Sexism in Tech Not a Problem Because of Coal Mining, Redditor Suggests

Women: Easily confused by technology
Before Facebook, Women Used Computers Only for Weaving

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?

sherylsan

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.

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Shiraz
Shiraz
11 years ago

“Oh…yeah…need cigarette…”

Wow. At least you’re being honest about coming here for a boner.

Discriminating against women who want to work isn’t funny, asshole. Everyone needs to pay bills, eat and thrive.

hellkell
hellkell
11 years ago

I resent being used as Elmer’s unwilling/unwitting wank prop. Fuck off, Elmer.

Marie
11 years ago

@hellkell

Do you want us to initiate ignore troll mode?

hellkell
hellkell
11 years ago

Nuke it from orbit.

The Kittehs' Unpaid Help

Elmer is a very ignorable troll, so it won’t exactly be an effort.

CassandraSays
CassandraSays
11 years ago

Good thing we kept that hand sanitizer around, huh?

Shiraz
Shiraz
11 years ago

Uh-huh. Ignore. Ignore. Ignore. And yes, hellkell, nuke the site from orbit — it’s the only way to be sure.

Hey, guys, happy Easter/Ostara/Bunny Day to everyone…by the way.

joanimal
joanimal
11 years ago

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 have only eaten cooked kale. Are kale salads usually raw? (I did note emilygoddess’ receipe.) I always thought kale seemed a bit tough to serve raw.

Jessay (@jessay)
11 years ago

It’s weird. The attention to detail is the part I enjoy about my chosen career path. It’s the insistence than I network with people in order to obtain consistent employment that I hate. It’s almost as if my gender doesn’t determine my strengths and weaknesses.

Jessay (@jessay)
11 years ago

Customer service is not only physically demanding (I was expected to bend, crawl, climb, crouch, push, pull, lift, hyper-extend, and stand/walk for hours on cement floors) but emotionally draining. Being expected to smile at people who all but spit on you is not good for your mental state. Customer service made me an antisocial person with very little faith in humanity.

Oh, and then there’s the part where you’re being exposed to every type of germ in existence because customers just cough and sneeze either directly into the open air in front of you, or into their hands just before they hand you money or touch the goods. But you won’t get health insurance or sick time to recover of any of the illnesses you inevitably pick up on a regular basis and colds wind up lasting for weeks. Oh, and dealing with extreme heat and cold depending on the season when you need to work right near the door that opens every five seconds and the heat/ac is being controlled by some corporate office in a completely different climate. Same goes for the food service jobs where you slave over a hot stove and spend extended periods of time stocking freezers. It’s like wicked easy and safe though right guys?

When it comes to those horrible floors btw, I used to work register at a store with a cement floor. Sure, they had those register mats, but you weren’t allowed to stay at your register when you didn’t have customers. You had to walk out to the end of the register and stand on the cement floor to bring people into your aisle. My legs killed me even in really cushy shoes.

People who fight for deregulation of corporations are literally fighting to allow corporations to abuse their employees more than they already do. Real champions of justice those ones. Anyone who puts profits before people is evil.

The Kittehs' Unpaid Help

Jessay – yeah, if I didn’t have excellent attention to detail, not only would I not be able to do my job, I’d be potentially putting people’s lives at risk. Forgot to mark that shipwreck, that obstruction, that change of depths, that unexploded ordnance field? That sort of thing could cause a sinking.

Curiously enough, I’ve had several male workmates who the boss would not dream of teaching the Dark Art because their attention to detail is shithouse.

The Kittehs' Unpaid Help

Customer service made me an antisocial person with very little faith in humanity.

There’s a saying that if you’re not a misanthrope when you go into customer service, you will be by the time you leave.

Your experience sounds soooo much like mine at the Museum of Victoria. Especially the health and exposure parts – we were in an old building with no heating or airconditioning, so it sweltered in summer and froze in winter, especially at the schools’ entrance, which had huge open doors. We called it Siberia. My health’s never been the same since then: almost every time I get a cold it turns into a cough-and-lose-the-voice job. It didn’t involve much heavy lifting or stretching, mercifully, although there were times when I had to help (nobody stronger available) lift a wheelchair-bound customer up flights of steps. The building had once had a Stairmate for the major flight, but apparently people were too embarassed to use it, so it was removed … really smart thinking, the health and safety of the staff coming behind the possible embarrassment of customers.

Uncle Elmer
Uncle Elmer
11 years ago

Gay men make for the best customer service reps while lesbians are the worst.

hellkell
hellkell
11 years ago

Shut up, Elmer. Seriously, just shut your fucking piehole.

Jessay: right on customer service is the worst–I’ve done it and I have mad respect for those who still do.

CassandraSays
CassandraSays
11 years ago

Troll is boring, nobody likes a try-hard. Have something hilarious instead – New Order parodying hair metal, directed by Kathryn Bigelow.

hellkell
hellkell
11 years ago

Goddamn, I love me some New Order.

They have a new album out. It’s exactly what you;d expect, and that is not a bad thing.

cloudiah
11 years ago

Joanimal, All the kale salads I’ve had were raw. I’ve seen a couple of techniques for dealing with kale’s toughness: julienning it, chopping it fairly fine, or “massaging” it. The latter just refers to rubbing the whole leaves of kale between your hands a few times before tearing into normal salad size chunks.

[passes out hand sanitizer/brain bleach before trolls get turned on by the idea of massaging kale]

CassandraSays
CassandraSays
11 years ago

Did you go see Hook last time? I’m not ashamed to admit that I had a moment of pure joy when I heard the intro to Ceremony.

hellkell
hellkell
11 years ago

I didn’t, but Ceremony is one of my all-time favorite songs.

pecunium
11 years ago

Macerating the kale helps too (slice it into ribbons, then rub it with coarse salt).

Bagelsan
Bagelsan
11 years ago

I’ve only had cooked kale… there’s this good kale/sausage pasta dish my family makes sometimes. (Learned it from Rachel Ray *is ashamed*.)

Uncle Elmer
Uncle Elmer
11 years ago

“….“massaging” it”

My wife “massages” fish before seasoning, then cooks with head, tail, and skin intact. Quite nutritous really.

emilygoddess
11 years ago

Which thread was it where Elmer made that gross remark about needing a cigarette after one of the regulars yelled at him? I vote for bannination on the grounds of being creepy and pushing people’s boundaries, but obvs I am not David.

Argenti Aertheri
11 years ago

That was on the last page of this one.

hellkell
hellkell
11 years ago

emilygoddess: that was this thread and it was me, and I’m about to invoice Elmer for including me in his kink without prior consent.

Elmer: no one, and I do mean NO ONE here cares what your wife does with your tired old fish.