My Thoughts On #1ReasonWhy

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23 comments, last by kuramayoko10 11 years, 4 months ago
None of this is made any better by people who constantly insist on conflating the several disparate issues involved:

  • Gender discrimination in the workplace
  • Harassment and flat-out reprehensible behavior towards women in any venue
  • Perceived lack of interest on the part of women in STEM fields
  • Demographic bias in production of various entertainment media


Individually, the issues are all well within the realm of fixable. They only appear insurmountable when combined into a giant "oh noes evil men are destroying teh earths" fiasco.

The ironic thing is that the solution to each issue (and, indeed, the extent to which each issue is really a genuine problem) is unique to the issue itself, as are the causes and social inertia that perpetuate them. Attacked separately, none of those four things is all that difficult to fight.

Wielder of the Sacred Wands
[Work - ArenaNet] [Epoch Language] [Scribblings]

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None of this is made any better by people who constantly insist on conflating the several disparate issues involved:

  • Gender discrimination in the workplace
  • Harassment and flat-out reprehensible behavior towards women in any venue
  • Perceived lack of interest on the part of women in STEM fields
  • Demographic bias in production of various entertainment media

Individually, the issues are all well within the realm of fixable. They only appear insurmountable when combined into a giant "oh noes evil men are destroying teh earths" fiasco.
The ironic thing is that the solution to each issue (and, indeed, the extent to which each issue is really a genuine problem) is unique to the issue itself, as are the causes and social inertia that perpetuate them. Attacked separately, none of those four things is all that difficult to fight.

This is what I was trying to say in a much more explicit and easier to understand format.

None of this is made any better by people who constantly insist on conflating the several disparate issues involved:

  • Gender discrimination in the workplace
  • Harassment and flat-out reprehensible behavior towards women in any venue
  • Perceived lack of interest on the part of women in STEM fields
  • Demographic bias in production of various entertainment media


You called out specific gender in two of those, but they also go both ways:

Harassment and flat-out reprehensible behavior toward men in any venue ---- women can be just as evil and abusive as men. I've seen some horrible examples.
Perceived lack of interest on the part of males in any field ---- Again I'll call out teaching, nursing, textiles, childcare, and others where in various cultures tasks are seen as gender-specific jobs.


I do agree with the sentiment. If someone calls out specific instances of inequality I can generally agree with it. When people complain in general terms "The entire industry is bad" my response is 'meh'.
That's another good point, and part of what makes this a difficult subject; on the whole, many specific environments are actually totally healthy (for instance, my current employer). While that doesn't invalidate the concerns about the environments which aren't healthy, it does dilute them to some degree. I've seen people perform the generalization as such:

  • There exist some places which aren't bad
  • Therefore the entire industry is not bad
  • Therefore the entire industry is fine
  • Therefore there is no problem


The fallacies in this generalization are obvious, but as is typical with humanity, obvious fallacies rarely prevent people from holding strong opinions.

Wielder of the Sacred Wands
[Work - ArenaNet] [Epoch Language] [Scribblings]

One thing is true and I say that from my own experience with several fields: engineering (eletric, construction), math, computer science.

A mixed gender environment is much healthier in any area. When I am working on a project with guys only, we develop a line of thought and stick to it. When a woman joins the team our vision is broaden to an incredible extent.

IMO men and woman have different visions and behave differently in groups. The area doesn't need to be equally balanced with men and women, just have them both and everything will be fine.
Programming is an art. Game programming is a masterpiece!

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