[hackerspaces] Safe Space Policies?

Walter van Holst walter at revspace.nl
Sun Jan 26 15:48:55 CET 2014


On 26/01/2014 15:27, Glyn Kennington wrote:

> As this usually includes calling out oppressive language, it's worth noting
> that the term "sausagefest", while a snappy way of summarising the problem, is
> cissexist.

Look! I sport a penis! And I feel oppressed by this!

Basically, it is this sort of political correct wankery that contributes
to it being next to impossible to have a meaningful conversation about
the hacker scene being horribly homogeneous. It simply is nowhere near
to equate calling a bunch of white males who have never felt anywhere
close to a single doubt of their right to be in a hackerspace (or in the
wider world for that matter) a "sausagefest" to calling a woman in that
space who has in all probability had encountered all sorts of social
discouragement to be interested in technology, and by extension may feel
way less being in that space a birthright,  a "chick". The latter is
misogynous and sexist, the former is merely a factual observation of a
somewhat informal sort.

They simply are not equal. Moreover, while cissexism is a great scrabble
word, it is not applicable in this situation. The proper term would have
been "misandrous" or "misandry". Which is great to troll people with,
but is not likely to be applicable in earnest for this situation anytime
soon.

Regards,

 Walter



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