
MIT Computer Scientists Demonstrate the Hard Way That Gender Still Matters - Mz
http://www.wired.com/2014/12/mit-scientists-on-women-in-stem/
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catshirt
"The interactions in the AMA itself showed that gender does still matter."

does it really? it sounds like if their gender was omitted in the first place,
the topic would not have been breached. i'm not saying their conclusion is
incorrect, i'm just confused by how they got there.

say for example, a "gay computer scientist" did an AMA. some people would
(rightfully) ask "why does your sexual orientation matter?". others will make
fun of them for being gay.

the only thing i'm convinced of is that some people like to harass and provoke
and troll. and for those people, minorities are easy targets. and the internet
is the easiest and safest place to do it. and when you're dealing with an
audience of 5000 people on Reddit, statistically speaking a subset of them are
going to be that kind of stupid.

edit: the fact that my comment, and literally over half the other comments in
this thread are grey, support my simpler conclusion that uncivil people exist.

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jack-r-abbit
I think people are incorrectly reacting to you questioning "does [gender]
really [matter]?" It appears to me that you are questioning "does [the AMA]
really [show]?"

I think you made sound questions in a civil way. I don't see why you should be
downvoted. But HN is fickle at times.

~~~
catshirt
thanks for a thoughtful response. your analysis is correct. but, given that
the article convinced me of nothing, further posing the question "does gender
really matter" seems fair as well.

i thought my intent was clear when i explained "i'm not saying their
conclusion is incorrect, i'm just confused by how they got there." i didn't
intend to disagree with their conclusion- i was simply drawing another
conclusion from their data.

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pseudosavant
The lack of civility and humanity on the Internet can be astounding. You are a
neanderthal if you think it is ok to heckle (at best) or threaten (at worst)
women in tech.

~~~
pron
I think much of this behavior is due to people's young age, and the complete
lack of understanding of what sexism is. I often see people here on HN confuse
sexism (which is a systemic, often cultural discrimination against women,
usually with no malice involved) with misogyny (disdain or contempt towards
women). They fail to realize that most of us are sexist without realizing it,
and that doesn't mean we're evil -- just a product of an unfair society.
Instead of listening and trying to find hidden biases (which are sometimes as
interesting to spot as a well-hidden bug in a program) they start getting
defensive, and quickly progress from sexism to outright misogyny.

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killertypo
the disrespect and downright abuse of women in technology is both disturbing
and downright disgusting. When will it end? What will it take for people to
back off gender for a moment and listen to what people have to offer. Who
cares what is between your legs when your contribution is a gift from the
heart and mind.

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detcader
It will certainly take more than referring to men as "people" when what is
actually meant is "men", the perpetrators of the abuse you refer to.

~~~
killertypo
not always, but most certainly is true very often.

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latj
I asked a serious non-gender related question and never got an answer. A
significant portion of MIT is the R&D extension of the pentagon. If an MIT
researcher brings up an ethical issue related to the application of their
research, does it spark a discussion or are they ignored as someone who is not
focusing on the problem at hand? Or, are people who ask thoses sorts of
questions already filtered out by this point?

It is not gender related but probably the most important question you could
ask an MIT academic. Its too bad they chose not to answer.

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totony
I'm not sure to understand HN's ranking system. This is top page and is an
article extrapolating sexism in a particular field from being trolled on
_reddit_ , which seems to me quite common. (Also, the article had 5 points and
one comment as of this posting)

On subject: As I said, concluding something from being trolled by people on
reddit does not seem valid.

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3rd3
It seems they've missed the opportunity to put up a "We are n male CS students
AUA" some weeks before, then the comparison would have been better.

~~~
totony
Even so, reddit does not reflect the tech working field. Especially when it is
a top post, it will just bring more trolls.

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detcader
"People treat girls and boys differently from an early age, giving them
different feedback and expectations."

Bold, italicize, underline. So many of my fellow men would never dispute that
organized religion is only sustained through socialization of young children,
but few seem to observe the similar pattern for sex ineqaulity.

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tomp
I think not many people would oppose that statement. Where opinions differ is
whether one or the other sex is given an advantage in a particular
subject/area of life.

