

How to Criticize Women in Technology - jerrya
http://www.quinnnorton.com/said/?p=597

======
jerrya
Quinn Norton wrote an article for Wired describing cryptocat and headlined
"This Cute Chat Site Could Save Your Life and Help Overthrow Your Government"
[http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/07/crypto-cat-
encrypti...](http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/07/crypto-cat-encryption-
for-all/all/).

Chris Soghoian criticized that article and articles like it here that overly
hype their subjects. He compared it to the unwarranted hype for Haystack.
[http://paranoia.dubfire.net/2012/07/tech-journalists-stop-
hy...](http://paranoia.dubfire.net/2012/07/tech-journalists-stop-hyping-
unproven.html).

Ryan Singel, editor of Wired's Threat Level, called Soghoian's article a
sexist attack on Norton here:
[http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/08/security-
researcher...](http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/08/security-
researchers/all/)

Soghoian replied here: [http://paranoia.dubfire.net/2012/08/responding-to-
wireds-ad-...](http://paranoia.dubfire.net/2012/08/responding-to-wireds-ad-
hominem-hatchet.html)

This is the news.ycombinator thread that discussed Soghoian and Wired's
responses: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4354959>

This is Quinn Norton's, the original reporter's, response.

I disagree with Norton (and Singel) and believe if Soghoian' original response
had been sexist, Norton would have been able to quote from it. As it is, she
can only make a tone argument.

~~~
slantyyz
She lost me on this particular quote:

>> I can explain that a hosted Javascript application is vulnerable to a deep
structural attack better than any of them — I explain things for a living.

Doing something for a living doesn't necessarily imply that you're good at it.

Conversely, not doing something for a living (i.e., "explaining things")
doesn't mean you're _not_ good at it either.

~~~
billswift
"Explaining" things that they don't understand is a hallmark of journalists,
especially the so-called professional ones. Their knowledge of firearms, to
take a really long-running example, was apparently acquired by watching made
for TV movies.

~~~
slantyyz
One of my biggest takeaways from biz school (sadly, that should destroy all of
my credibility here) was something a professor told my class.

"You'll find that anyone who calls themselves an expert at anything probably
read a couple of really good articles".

------
lawnchair_larry
This hit piece is just reprehensible. Shame on you Quinn Norton. No, obviously
not for being a woman. For being a terrible journalist, and playing this card.
At no point did he say anything remotely sexist. Is there any possibility that
statements were criticised because they were wrong, and not because a woman
wrote them? Or are you so arrogant that you consider yourself infallible, and
any disagreement must obviously be sexism?

------
roopeshv
tl;dr?: Don't criticize women in technology.

No I'm not being dismissive, that's the tl;dr.

