One thought about that link - doesn't claiming 'geek' in place of 'woman' deny gender power differencess within the group of people who call themselves geeks?
Often, yes. I'm one of a relatively few women in my field who speak at conferences presenting their own research. When I first started, I was worried with some justice about being "the girl hacker". And while I had my scoffing counterarguments all lined up ("um, Ada Lovelace? Hello?"), it took several years and the eventual refusal to do any interviews that were personal and not technical to become "the $my_specialization hacker" instead. There are other women in the field, but not many of them speak, and there were fewer several years back.
I recently had one of my friends say that I was sufficiently accomplished in my field that I was considered "effectively male", and that she wished that there were more "feminine" women in security. While I know that she meant it as a half-compliment, I was really pretty offended. If I were effectively male, I wouldn't have had to deal with half the crap I have from the security community, not exactly known for its maturity. I wouldn't have had a boss say "so get me coffee and take notes" after I introduced myself as the senior engineer, picking the two women at the meeting of eight people for these roles. I wouldn't have gotten 800 requests for a date in e-mail after Slashdot ran an article about me. I wouldn't have to listen to my research peers saying that all that women in security were good for was sucking dick under the desk, or to listen to my boss asking me if I'd noticed too that women in security weren't as good as the men at their jobs. "Oh, but not you, thewronghands". Die in a fire. I wouldn't have been colloquially known as "that ball-busting bitch" at work.
To say that an accomplished woman is "effectively male" is to undercut both the experience of sexism (not pleasant), and the very traits that allowed me to overcome all those experiences I was bitching about. If I were more passive, helpful, and "feminine", I would be less accomplished. I feel that saying "we're all geeks here", while it can be a pleasant statement of collective acceptance and socialization, does to some degree deny that when I walk into a room to give a talk, half the audience is looking at my breasts and not my face. That's a relevant experience, as distasteful as it is. So while I don't want to be "the girl hacker", I do strongly identify as female and feminist, and to say that that doesn't matter is, unfortunately, laughable. It would be great if we got to a point where it truly didn't matter, but we're nowhere near there yet.
Totally agree with you regarding feminism and its point.
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Date: 2006-10-16 03:40 pm (UTC)Often, yes. I'm one of a relatively few women in my field who speak at conferences presenting their own research. When I first started, I was worried with some justice about being "the girl hacker". And while I had my scoffing counterarguments all lined up ("um, Ada Lovelace? Hello?"), it took several years and the eventual refusal to do any interviews that were personal and not technical to become "the $my_specialization hacker" instead. There are other women in the field, but not many of them speak, and there were fewer several years back.
I recently had one of my friends say that I was sufficiently accomplished in my field that I was considered "effectively male", and that she wished that there were more "feminine" women in security. While I know that she meant it as a half-compliment, I was really pretty offended. If I were effectively male, I wouldn't have had to deal with half the crap I have from the security community, not exactly known for its maturity. I wouldn't have had a boss say "so get me coffee and take notes" after I introduced myself as the senior engineer, picking the two women at the meeting of eight people for these roles. I wouldn't have gotten 800 requests for a date in e-mail after Slashdot ran an article about me. I wouldn't have to listen to my research peers saying that all that women in security were good for was sucking dick under the desk, or to listen to my boss asking me if I'd noticed too that women in security weren't as good as the men at their jobs. "Oh, but not you,
To say that an accomplished woman is "effectively male" is to undercut both the experience of sexism (not pleasant), and the very traits that allowed me to overcome all those experiences I was bitching about. If I were more passive, helpful, and "feminine", I would be less accomplished. I feel that saying "we're all geeks here", while it can be a pleasant statement of collective acceptance and socialization, does to some degree deny that when I walk into a room to give a talk, half the audience is looking at my breasts and not my face. That's a relevant experience, as distasteful as it is. So while I don't want to be "the girl hacker", I do strongly identify as female and feminist, and to say that that doesn't matter is, unfortunately, laughable. It would be great if we got to a point where it truly didn't matter, but we're nowhere near there yet.
Totally agree with you regarding feminism and its point.