I'm so sick of guys telling me that women can't be nerds -- that we can't like comics, games, software, or robots. I LOVE ROBOTS. What are you going to do about it? Well, this is what some jerks at Wondercon did about it. They made this bullshit t-shirt and sold it at their booth:
I don't know what astounds me more: the lack of inclusiveness on the part of people who have probably been marginalized by the "cool kids" for their entire lives and know exactly how terrible it feels or the fact that they feel like it is ok to be so brazen in their misogyny. I mean, holy shit! They just said that they HATE women who don't fit their stereotypes of what women should be. They didn't even say it in a dark corner; they said it on a SHIRT! My most sincere wish is that I will someday meet a dude wearing this shirt and open a huge can of carbonated reality in his face (after I shake it vigorously, of course).
I can't even go to Pine State for some biscuits and gravy without meeting someone who tries to force their perceived reality on me that women can't be nerds. This morning, I started chatting with another patron at Pine State who works in the software industry. Of course, I was telling him about the work I do to empower women in tech because I'll tell anyone within a 20 foot radius who will listen. He was like, "Wow, that's great! There were hardly any women at this software conference I went to recently. It was pretty nerdy, though."
I had to open a lightly carbonated can of "women can be nerds, too" reality in his vicinity -- nothing like the guy in the fangirl t-shirt would get, though. Trust me, I was very diplomatic, but I did shut him down. I don't think he was a bad guy. I think he was just repeating the gender-biased nonsense that has been spoon fed to him by society for his entire life. Unfortunately, this nonsense is so deeply institutionalized that you have to be pretty firm in your stance against it. We talked tech for at least ten minutes after that and parted on the shared sentiment that we hope to run into each other in the neighborhood again.
Something tells me the dude in the fangirl t-shirt from my fantasy run-in wouldn't share that sentiment. Heck, he already hates me and he hasn't even met me yet.
I don't know what astounds me more: the lack of inclusiveness on the part of people who have probably been marginalized by the "cool kids" for their entire lives and know exactly how terrible it feels or the fact that they feel like it is ok to be so brazen in their misogyny. I mean, holy shit! They just said that they HATE women who don't fit their stereotypes of what women should be. They didn't even say it in a dark corner; they said it on a SHIRT! My most sincere wish is that I will someday meet a dude wearing this shirt and open a huge can of carbonated reality in his face (after I shake it vigorously, of course).
I can't even go to Pine State for some biscuits and gravy without meeting someone who tries to force their perceived reality on me that women can't be nerds. This morning, I started chatting with another patron at Pine State who works in the software industry. Of course, I was telling him about the work I do to empower women in tech because I'll tell anyone within a 20 foot radius who will listen. He was like, "Wow, that's great! There were hardly any women at this software conference I went to recently. It was pretty nerdy, though."
I had to open a lightly carbonated can of "women can be nerds, too" reality in his vicinity -- nothing like the guy in the fangirl t-shirt would get, though. Trust me, I was very diplomatic, but I did shut him down. I don't think he was a bad guy. I think he was just repeating the gender-biased nonsense that has been spoon fed to him by society for his entire life. Unfortunately, this nonsense is so deeply institutionalized that you have to be pretty firm in your stance against it. We talked tech for at least ten minutes after that and parted on the shared sentiment that we hope to run into each other in the neighborhood again.
Something tells me the dude in the fangirl t-shirt from my fantasy run-in wouldn't share that sentiment. Heck, he already hates me and he hasn't even met me yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment