

Contemporary dance performance about gender at European Rails Conference - elamadej
http://blog.railsberry.com/index.php/2013/03/29/women-in-tech-isnt-gender-just-a-social-label-great-dance-performance-on-april-21st-limited-availability/

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Nursie
So what exactly are these conferences for?

I was slightly supicious anyway - information about most tech is only a few
clicks away these days so I'm not convinced they're a necessary part of an
engineer's ongoing education. But now there are dance performances? And people
get sent to these things on work time/money?

~~~
MehdiEG
There are two main reasons why people attend conferences.

For some people (typically execs, sales people, recruiters, PR people,
consultants, freelance professionals, etc), conferences are mostly or entirely
about networking. They don't attend the sessions or, when they do, it's
because it's the only place in the venue where they can sit down and catch up
on emails.

At larger events like Mobile World Congress, those who know how networking
works don't even waste their time attending the main event. They have pre-
arranged meetings with all the key people they want to meet. And when they're
not in a pre-arranged meeting, they are at one of the unofficial fringe events
or parties, which is where the real networking happens (and they have, of
course, arranged to get an invitation to the key fringe events as the best
networking events are often invite-only).

For others, and most software developers would fall in that category I guess,
conferences are mostly about personal development. No, you won't hear anything
at a conference that you wouldn't have been able to find online. But a good
speaker will instill a sense of energy and enthusiasm that you would never get
from reading an article or even watching a YouTube video.

Because you're away from your daily grind and because of the way the content
is delivered (you have to sit through an entire session and listen - unlike an
article, a book or a video, you can't stop half way through or skim it), you
also think very differently and tend to be a lot more open-minded and
receptive to new ideas. So you almost always end up learning things that
wouldn't normally have bothered to even read about otherwise or that you
wouldn't have properly understood.

Not to mention the fact that you're surrounded with people coming from very
difference backgrounds and industries than those at your workplace. You'll
often pick up very different ways of thinking that might very well change your
approach to your work.

Personally, in the good old days when I was "just" a software developer and
didn't care much about networking, I loved attending conferences. I would
leave a good conference bursting with energy and enthusiasm. My best work
would always happen after a conference. That's when you feel the most ready to
tackle hard problems and don't mind powering through the statu-quo to make
things better.

Try it - if you're passionate about your craft, chances are good conferences
will make you a better craftsman.

~~~
simonw
This is a really great answer.

I'll add one thing: don't be put off by the term "networking". It's about
having interesting conversations, finding out what's going on in your industry
and sometimes making new friends. If you go to "network" it can feel a bit
contrived, but if you go to learn from other people and teach people yourself
you can do excellent networking without even realising you are doing it.

------
zwischenzug
Is this really deemed appropriate material for this board?

There's no substantive discussion of women in tech there, just "here's a
contemporary dance about a subject".

So what? There's literally nothing in there I'm interested in, and I've wasted
time looking at it trying to figure out why I should be.

Beyond that, I find the idea of enticing geeks to gawp at physically fit women
gyrating to the subject of gender differences in tech more than a little
ironic. Unless their purpose is to exploit the stereotype. In which case, get
off HN!

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Argorak
I think there are some misunderstandings. As far as I can tell, this is an
optional part of the conference where you can go on the day before if you want
to do something beyond just the "professional" stuff.

I like the idea - its a local theatre with an interesting program relevant to
current hot topics in the industry, why not show your city from your best
side?

If you don't want to go, whats the point of being angry about it? Why waste
breath on something optional?

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pax
Yeah? I'll see your 'Contemporary dance performance about gender' and raise
with 'Anti-gay musical touring Malaysian universities' <http://gu.com/p/3em7z>

_____ I know, a bit off-topic and redditish, but it was serendipitously opened
in the next tab

~~~
luma
If you're anti-gay, I think we can all acknowledge that you're a jerk, but one
might helpfully suggest that putting on a musical to get that particular
message across isn't the best plan ever hatched.

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ndr
I find this not constructive at all, to put it nicely.

So if there was a field with a low male participation would you set up a male
bodybuilder show? Or a half naked men dancing show? These are just extreme
examples but it's to make a point.

You want more female in tech? Instead of paying dancer go to mid school to
show kids how cool is to program. If you do a good job also young girls will
give tech a try.

~~~
smasia
Please, read the article, not just look at the pictures.

And RailsBerry is one of main sponsors of RailsGirlsKrakow, happening in
Krakow just 2 days before it. And Applicake (the organizer of RailsBerry) is
one of main sponsors of WebMuses ->
[https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.483519771671476.10...](https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.483519771671476.107837.367995243223930&type=3).

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AlexanderDhoore
The word "Contemporary" always makes me cringe a little. It's such a fancy
synonym for "Now".

Anyway, I love ballet myself. I did ballet when I was a little boy (for about
8 years). I like going to ballet. Especially when my sisters perform in it.
BUT this _might_ be too much of a good thing. But, pff, who cares right? I
hope you guys enjoy it! Fok all them haters.

~~~
elamadej
"Contemporary dance" is actually the name of the dance technique:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemporary_dance>

------
iuguy
My first thought was, "What does this have to do with Rails?"

Then I realised that at 44Con[1] we have a daily Gin O'Clock break with Gin
and Tonics all round. To be fair, the purposes of Gin O'Clock are to give us
time to join the two theatres for the final talk of the day, to promote
networking in the sponsor area and also to provide something very quirky and
British at the conference.

The bottom line is that the organiser wants to put it in, let them put it in
and try it. If the attendees like it, great. If they don't, then they should
say so. If it puts you off attending you should tell them (as long as you were
going to attend originally).

[1] - <http://www.44con.com/>

~~~
elamadej
It's a day before the conference for those who are in Krakow (where the
conference take place) and want some alternatives. We're really thrilled to
share art and part of our culture with everyone who's willing to experience
more.

------
Vlaix
One more reason not to attend Rails-related stuff.

------
maked00
Contemporary dance is to now what 'modern dance' was to the 50s and 60s, just
bad dancers putting on really bad productions everyone wants to forget as soon
as possible.

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mtrimpe
I for one absolutely love this initiative. If I wasn't bootstrapping my
company I would fly over this weekend just to be there.

Issues of gender are generally _really_ hard to capture in words and lend
themselves much more to being relayed through the other senses, like voice and
body language.

I'm sure it will be a learning experience for everyone who decides to attend.

~~~
elamadej
THANKS! And it's really just fun & a better alternative to "just" exploring
the town / eating /drinking on a day before the conference (not that there's
anything wrong with those, we just like to think people have good
alternatives.)

------
mnicole
Near-naked women hanging from ropes at IGDA? _It's all in good fun!_ Booth
babes on conferences floors? _Get over it, that's marketing!_ Interpretive
dance not at all even associated with the event, just being encouraged because
it's something worth seeing and it's somewhat-related to gender issues?
_Stupid, worthless! Way to objectify women more!_ Jesus christ you guys.

Thanks for encouraging the arts, Ela :)

------
ritiri
Just more proof that feminism has infected the tech community as well. What a
joke.

~~~
1as
This doesn't seem to be about feminism specifically (although your
classification of an equality movement as an infection would certainly demand
extraordinary evidence).

It seems to be more about gender, and gender roles. There's a really big
question here that I find interesting as a hacker: how much of what we call
gender is biologically constructed, and how much is socially constructed?
Obviously, say, having a penis is a direct function of biology, but what about
something like girls' supposed preference for pink? This is almost certainly a
social construct, and one that only arose in the early twentieth century [0].
And yet dressing little girls in pink has certainly influenced generations of
us - do you know many guys who would be comfortable using a pink wallet?

The big question becomes important when we look at an issue like girls being
the minority in engineering/technology/business leadership/etc: how much of
this is due to some inherent biology, and how much is due to a lack of role
models or social expectation for young girls to show interest in these areas?

[0]: [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2831/was-pink-
origi...](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2831/was-pink-originally-
the-color-for-boys-and-blue-for-girls)

~~~
hacker789
There's a particularly strong brand of post-modern, third-wave feminism that
uses words "equality" and "egalitarian" as pejoratives.

 _Really._ I'm not even talking about the self-labeled "radfems"—the ones who
say that no heterosexual sex is truly consensual. Though those monsters
clearly exist, too.

Hackers don't know foolish it is to give in to third-wave-feminist bullying.
They have _no idea_ what they're getting themselves into.

My remarks aren't commentary on this particular contemporary dance; I'm simply
responding to the labeling of feminism an equality movement.

