Wow! I certainly seem to have stirred up a hornets nest here. Sorry I've taken so
long to
reply (I've been away from my e-mail). Thankyou all for your intelligent responses.
There
are some things I'm taking on board (the good), some issues I need to continue to
remonstrate about (the bad) and some things I think I need to clarify about my
position
(the ugly). So:
The Good:
Some of you guys ( I'm unsure how universally gender-neutral that term is, but I'll
use it
anyway ) have described experiences that I thought only existed in comedy routines.
The
thing is, in said routines, the offender is the person who looks silly. I'm stunned
that
anyone can be quite as stupid as the people some of you are dealing with. What I'm
taking
on-board is that there are problems out there that I don't see because (A) I'm not
female
and (B) I make my intolerance of that type of thing known ergo, I conjecture people
don't
do it when I'm around. I can also see that in some cases, playing nice doesn't work.
I
concede the point about social stereotypes. All of us 'different' people suffer under
that
yoke in some way, shape or form.
The Bad:
The prime justification I have seen for demographics shifting basically boils down to
"There should be more women in my field because if there were, there would be less
sexism". I still think that demographic tampering is a silver bullet. People expect
too
much from it and it's a nuisance. Being 'different' and 'in the minority' is not a bad
thing. I've had people telling me subtly for most of my life that different is bad,
and
I'm just not prepared to take it anymore. Ever since I've been able to say "I'm
different
and I'm rare and that fact alone is valuable.", I'm a happier person. I quit trying to
make more people into Simons a long time ago. Being different is *not* easy, but if we
don't maintain our differences, the world will be a very boring place. If you want
easy,
follow the stereotype. If you want to be a real person, do your own thing and take the
consequences.
On the subject of choice, you can't choice who your boss hires, but you can choose your
boss (ie. get another job). You can choose to make life easier or more difficult for
the
people around you. You can choose the industry you work in. You can choose to be
"thick
skinned" (I need to). You can also choose to go on a murderous gun rampage ( females
are
also under-represented in those statistics :) ). I don't actually advocate the
latter, I'm
just pointing out that it is possible to do. You'll probably choose not to do it
because
of the consequences. If you choose to live by the sword ( be it a physical,
intellectual
or emotional one ) you shouldn't be suprised that people would like you to die by it.
It's
still a choice you've made.
The Ugly:
The quote: "Under the most carefully controlled ... etc ... " was one I read from a
book of
murphys laws and I fail to see how fascists would like it. Fascism is about
controlling
the populace. The quote implies that it's not possible. I take it as a statement
about
the power to resist the control of others and your environment.
I'm pro linux chix. Forums for open and intelligent discussion are the right thing to
do.
I'm against positive feedback as an end unto itself. If you're only getting positive
feedback, I'm not really listening :)
I guess, in summary, I'm an individualist. I want people to have the opportunity to
do and
be what comes naturally to them without arbitrary external prodding.
I think it's great to provide support to female techs and to encourage those who
desire to
move down that path. I think it's bad to round up people to become clones. This
*this* is
my objection to demographics as a measure of who should be doing what. The chart is
not
the patient and the numbers are not people. 99% of people are sheep and many of them
become quite unhappy when asked to be something else. Let the happy sheep be happy
sheep.
I'm a happy non-sheep and I'd like the sheep to leave me that way :)
PS:
This has been composed in a hurry in my lunch break. It omits a huge number of
interesting
tidbits in the interests of actually doing some work today :) BTW, I get a little
emotional about the two items under "bad", so I apologise if my tone is offensive.
************
[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linuxchix.org
