one of a million stories used to show how women supposedly can't keep up in tech circles. threadreaderapp.com/thread/1203720…
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And yet, it's remarkable how many tech innovations were actually made by women, except that the credit somehow made its way to a man. 2
If you spend any time with children, you will clearly see that there is a huge natural difference between little girls and little boys. The problem isn't that we see differences that aren't there, the problem is that the differences are not what we interpret them to be. 3
If a little girl doesn't want to belittle somebody because they are struggling to understand a concept, that doesn't mean that girls a) don't get the concept, b) can't keep up in a competitive world, or c) aren't a team player. 4
All it means is she desires a different way of bringing the other person along. A cooperative, supportive, non-zero-sum way. 5
But instead we subtly but persistently reject the feminine way of working, and hint that women can’t cut it in the demanding world of tech. 6
The competitive, zero-sum, masculine way to approach tech has proven itself to be a second-rate, ill-fitting method. 7
Sure, the masculine way works because tech is a fucking huge greenfield and any method or lack thereof will work, but it doesn't work very well, efficiently, or effectively. 8
The masculine, competitive, destructive, belittling, hierarchical, patriarchal, zero-sum way works well in warfare, where collateral damage is “acceptable.” In war, the notion that you destroy the city to liberate it is…valid. 9
Surprisingly, or not surprisingly, that combat mindset finds a home in money circles. The funders of tech are categorically NOT technologists (even if they once were), and the money game is not about innovation but about theft, graft, muscle, leverage, and corruption. 10
I’m provoked because so many of my male boomer friends—progressive about so many things—still think women are somehow not fully up to the mark in tech. I’m disgusted and embarrassed. 11
If you boil Silicon Valley down to its essence to find out where the problems are and what is slowing it down and turning it into a weapon of oppression, you pretty much only find one lump of shit at the bottom of the pot: toxic masculinity. 12
