
Sexism in tech reporting - davewiner
http://scripting.com/stories/2011/12/09/sexismInTechReporting.html
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ryandvm
The author specifically mentions watching _his sister_ trying to use Twitter.
This isn't some broad-brushed sexism leveled against all middle aged, female
Internet users.

His evaluation of the new interface is that it makes sense for people that are
confounded by the fundamental rituals of Twitter. People _like his sister_.
The article would have made just as much sense if he had written it about his
computer illiterate brother.

Sexism abounds in this industry, there are plenty of real offenses to complain
about. This just sounds like sour grapes for not getting an invite to the
beta.

~~~
Leon
> This just sounds like sour grapes for not getting an invite to the beta.

That is another issue I had with this article. "I hate that large tech
companies manage to completely control the initial discussion of their
products by controlling who can see it." How is this unlike any other large
company? Car manufacturers allow selected press to test drive new vehicles.
Movie studios have showings for movie reviewers well before a general
audience. This is a well established business model and calling out a single
industry to "grow up" reads as someone who is not in touch with the reality of
how a lot of businesses operate and why they do. PR is an established field.

I agree there is sexism in the field. The saying of making software for your
mom, however, is not a bad thing. If anything I consider this good, even
great. Traditionally technology was considered even more of a man's field than
today, with little training or encouragement for women. The trend in older
generations is more prevalent, which gives rise to the saying. Yet this idea
of targeting that demographic explicitly is wonderful, and why the
colloquialism is attempting to fight _against_ the long held technological
sexism of older generations. Making software for your mom or grandmother is a
realistic attempt at solving the problem of lack of technical training for a
gender that was largely ignored by technology a few years ago. People are
doing something about the situation and bringing in new users to the latest in
tech, opening windows into the rest of the tech world.

However, in the long run, this saying should be phased out as it will soon
become more sexist with everyone of any gender having full access and
encouragement into technology from a young age.

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quanticle
When people talk about writing software for their mom, it's not sexism. It's
age-ism. They're talking about software for their moms because their moms are
older, not because their moms are women. I've seen reviewers talk about their
dads and grandfathers in the same way.

