

An Open Letter to Brogrammers - tester_jay
http://tacit.livejournal.com/588807.html

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fennecfoxen
It's not a very good letter. I don't think most "brogrammers" are ignorant and
unaware of Grace Hopper or maintain that girls can't code. Rather, they create
and celebrate a workplace culture that no women (and only certain men) should
be expected to tolerate.

Klout advertising for programmers to "bro up" isn't saying "yo, us men are
better than women", it's saying "let us hang around like it's a fraternity,
have some beer, ogle some sexual imagery and make crude jokes". (On the plus
side, there's some camaraderie there for those who do fit into the culture, I
guess.)

~~~
seanccox
I get the feeling that they didn't get many female applicants to the
position... That's a bonus for those who fit the 'culture' though, because
they had a better shot at getting a job.

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dukedougal
I don't get the point of this article. There some smart women in technology,
ok, and that is being used as a club to hit men with? Please explain.

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JasonFruit
It's not being used as a club to hit _men_ ; it's being used as a club to hit
misogynistic idiots who feel big when they make other people who happen to be
women feel small.

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coldcode
Please kill the term "Brogrammers" with fire.

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zimpenfish
You know, using the arse picture at the top makes it really quite hard to take
the article seriously. Especially at work.

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seanccox
The author is sharing actual ads for coding services and vacancy announcements
from companies, in order to highlight examples of misogynist culture in the
tech/startup sector.

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rimantas
I don't see how that tells anything about culture of tech/startup sector at
all.

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seanccox
Klout's ad clearly tells women that they don't want to hire them. There is no
part of "bro" that implies gender neutrality. More subtly, it expresses the
idea that women are probably not worth hiring. Even more subtle is its message
that gender-specific hiring is acceptable. Klout outdoes itself in undermining
the clause, common in many hiring documents, that the company "will not
discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnic origin, national origin,
creed, religion, political belief, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, or
age".

I don't know that this can be expanded to characterize the overall culture of
the tech/startup sector – I've never observed it (thought it does have a
reputation for misogyny). In any event, the author's intent is to respond to
the "bro" discourse that actual employers and companies included in their
public-facing materials, by satirizing it with similar language.

~~~
mkr-hn
> _There is no part of "bro" that implies gender neutrality._

Some of my best bros are women.

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sidcool
Whenever someone flags a post with a respectful title, I urge them to write a
comment.

