
Sexism in the PHP Community - tswicegood
http://caseysoftware.com/blog/sexism-php-community
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marssaxman
The typeface is blatantly offensive, but it took me a while to see what was
supposed to be sexist about the shirt. You have to read it out loud to get it:
the last two syllables of "PHP-ness" are supposed to be pronounced like the
word "penis". So it's not just an ugly shirt, but an ugly shirt which
associates an ugly language with ugly ripoff-marketing spam email.

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BHershewitz
It took me a really long time to understand why that shirt (apart from simply
being ugly) would be considered offensive to women. I think the author of this
article should engage in some introspective self-criticism and try to pinpoint
the psychological factors that cause her to get so upset at trivial
externalities that dont completely synch with her worldview.

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Mz
As best I can determine, the author's name is D. Keith Casey Jr. I strongly
suspect the author is male.

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Mz
I never quite know what to think of posts like this. They usually strike me as
really missing the mark, which I hesitate to say in part because I know that
"not pc language" (for lack of a better term) _can_ be a serious issue. But I
really think these kinds of posts don't help women. I suspect they probably
hurt women in tech, but I am not quite sure how to express my reasons for
feeling that way.

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dmschulman
I feel similarly and find it hard to express why it makes me think that way.

I actually thought about writing something more to this effect, but I don't
want to come off as critical. The short version of my thoughts though boils
down to the idea that a negative stereotype of Feminism is re-enforced by this
whole episode, and while people have the right to voice their criticisms about
something, using the guise of Feminism to lob the critique doesn't promote
what Feminism is actually concerned with.

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Mz
I am a woman. I was one of the top three students of my graduating high school
class. I turned down a National Merit Scholarship. I thought I would have a
career and family, etc. I ended up a homemaker for two decades. I have read a
helluva lot about feminism and all that over the years and thought long and
hard about what went wrong with my life. I woke up this morning super cranky
about feeling like I still need to choose between having a brain and a
sexuality, between having a man and a fulfilling life. I strongly suspect that
most men are uncomfortable with so called "feminism" because they fear that if
women get lives of their own, no man (or they personally) will ever get laid
again. Stupid, stipid, stupid. I have read at least one article by a man who
was involved with a feminist. He and the other men would wind up in the
kitchen, feeling bad about being male.

Besides, the t-shirt is a play on words for getting your penis enhanced. I
have never met a man who wants to proudly display on his chest the
announcement that his dick is too small and needs enhancing. It looks to me
like the stupidest possible play on words they could have chosen for a male
dominated field. It will no doubt die of its own stupidity, winning a Darwin
award, without anyone needing to criticize it as "sexist". Having a sexuality
is not "sexist". The sooner the shrieky so called pro feminists figure that
out, the sooner we can work on real issues and stop freaking out about the
normal, routine fact that "sex sells", thus sexual references are incredibly
common. The real way to promote gender parity (which I am for, even though I
role my eyes at "female equality") is to promote the idea that women are also
entitled to enjoy sex and stop implying that if a man likes sex, he clearly is
a disrespectful pig who should burn in hell.

Anyway, I have an errand to run. Which is for the best because I was grumpy
about this topic before this piece was posted.

Later.

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dmschulman
Well said.

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dmschulman
Were there other tee shirts on sale at the conference or was this the sole
piece merch?

