<div dir="ltr">I love you Matt. Also everyone else on this thread, you're cool too ;D<br>+BG</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 2:51 PM, Matt Joyce <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:matt@nycresistor.com" target="_blank">matt@nycresistor.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Cost nothing to be nice to each other.<br>
<div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><br>
On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 2:46 PM, rachel lyra hospodar<br>
<<a href="mailto:rachelyra@gmail.com">rachelyra@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> "It could be that she host a class about e-textiles or whatever it is<br>
> females like to talk about."<br>
><br>
> *headdesk*<br>
><br>
> protip - sometimes women focus on the textile stuff *because* then they can<br>
> be in a group that is at least 15% women. The Feminist Hacker Hive that<br>
> meets up at noisebridge has found that there is a tipping point - if a<br>
> critical mass of women are present in conversation, they don't get<br>
> interrupted by clueless neanderthal types.<br>
><br>
> I used to make a living as a carpenter, welder, and construction manager. I<br>
> left that work because of gender and age based disrespect.<br>
><br>
> I sniffed around the edges of Silicon Valley but didn't dive in for the same<br>
> reasons. I do work in soft circuitry now, but it's not because rigid<br>
> circuits are too difficult. It's a brute-force solution designed to avoid<br>
> people as condescending as you, david.<br>
><br>
> If the tech industry truly wants to innovate on things like interface we<br>
> could do with re-examining how people interact, and what we are really<br>
> seeking. To do that, though, we have to change the culture.<br>
><br>
> R.<br>
><br>
><br>
> On 1/17/2013 8:26 AM, David Powell wrote:<br>
>><br>
>> At Baltimore Hackerspace we have been 100% male until last month. We had<br>
>> the occasional Female come through the door but for whatever reason they<br>
>> never come back. We now have exactly 1 female member and about 20 male<br>
>> members. The males ALWAYS go out of their way to make the place more<br>
>> female friendly. For example we try hard not to use inappropriate<br>
>> language around females. Whenever they show a desire to learn something<br>
>> we stop what we are doing and teach them whatever it is they want to<br>
>> know. At the end of the night when they are leaving we always have<br>
>> someone walk them to their car so they feel safe.<br>
>><br>
>> I highly encourage all members of our space no matter what their gender<br>
>> is to make it their own. For example we have Programmers, Electronic<br>
>> Engineers, Mechanical Engineers, Accountants, Students, etc. and you can<br>
>> pick anyone person from any of those backgrounds and they could tell you<br>
>> a subject that they just don't care about. So if a programmer wants more<br>
>> programmers to talk to and hang out with I encourage them to send out a<br>
>> few e-mails and become more active online in order to help find more<br>
>> people interested in programming. I don't however expect the mechanical<br>
>> engineers to go find programmers if they have no interest in learning to<br>
>> program.<br>
>><br>
>> I would say the same should be true with the female/male issue. If a<br>
>> hackerspace has one female and she wants more females in the hackerspace<br>
>> then she should start a campaign to find more females. It could be that<br>
>> she host a class about e-textiles or whatever it is females like to talk<br>
>> about.<br>
>><br>
>> If a female in the hackerspace wants to be on our board I would gladly<br>
>> accept them but I would hold them to the same standards as I hold<br>
>> everyone. As a board member you are "Responsible" for the future of the<br>
>> hackerspace. This means a lot of work that really sucks. For us it is<br>
>> not just making decisions but actually getting the work done. For<br>
>> example we need brochures made to hand out to people who are coming<br>
>> through our door for the first time and at special events. Ok we voted<br>
>> that we need those. Now what? Well, someone has to actually design and<br>
>> make the things. But we don't have a budget to just pay a designer. So<br>
>> the person in charge of making it happen has to find someone with the<br>
>> talent to make it happen or figure out how to do it themselves. "But I<br>
>> just want to hack" is usually what most people say. Nobody wants to<br>
>> actually do anything the is important. They want to do what is fun at<br>
>> the time.<br>
>><br>
>> As the president I spend about 40 hours a week making sure the finances<br>
>> are straight, making sure our social media is up to date, sending out<br>
>> request to try and get us stuff that we can't afford, making sure the<br>
>> place is clean for the next wave of new people who come through the<br>
>> door, making sure the projector works for the classes we host, making<br>
>> sure the refrigerator gets stocked with soda. I could keep going.<br>
>><br>
>> My point is it does not matter what gender you are. It matters whether<br>
>> or not you actually do work which contributes to the future of the<br>
>> space. If you want more women then go find them. If you want more say in<br>
>> what is going on then offer to help take care of some of the task that<br>
>> need to be accomplished.<br>
>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br></div>