<p>Many of you raise an important question that I don't think can be answered singly - so what do we do? Because while there are a hundred strategies that could be employed, that we should share, there is also a limit to what we can share that way. Other community groups that may be more gender-balanced, and worth reaching out to... a vague feeling that women like things to be clean... classes that are targeted perhaps not even in subject matter but in presentation style and in the ways they are promoted... working on creating a welcoming space. Treating the conversation, and goal of integration, as important. People besides the targeted group working towards the goal.</p>
<p>Why do I say there's a limit? because all those things might be important, and help... but I think the best strategies will come from within the hackerspaces themselves, fitting to their style & their potential audiences. As a hacker who did not come to hackerspaces with a feminist agenda, but rather having developed one after finding a community based on logic that allows its blind spots and emotions to perpetuate illogical behavior.... all I want is to not have to explain what I am doing if I am busy, to not have to spend my hacking time helping people develop stunted social skills WRT talking to me, as if I was some sort of rare bird and/or social experiment. Women do edit themselves out of the technology scene, but I believe its for two reasons... one is internalized belief that the work is not for them. The other is dissatisfaction with the social norms. Both can be addressed but my perhaps controversial stance is that those who don't identify as women should focus on grokking the second of those, understanding why it is the case before seeking to effect change. Once you understand, you can write this email instead of me, and maybe I can have some time back from all this teaching to work on my interface project.</p>
<p>Maybe this seems like 'drama' to some. The same could be said for what is happening with legal prosecution of hackers in the US. Drama. Booooring. Unless it affects you. then it's important enough to go to jail for, or to die for.</p>
<p>It is difficult to even talk about gender/race/heteronormativity because as soon as it comes up, people from the named dominant group panic, get defensive, scold the complainers, claim that they are being reverse-discriminated. (watch a group of white feminists talk about race if you want to see women act this way, too) This might sound like an imprecise and nonscientific statement but as a person better versed in welding than in psychology I still need to be able to describe recurrent observed behavioral phenomena. This may be less interesting that stack overflows to you. Honestly it is to me too. I would love to spend my time in the hackerspace community....actually hacking....it's funny that 99% of the interpersonal conflict I have helped to mediate at noisebridge has been among men. It turns out emotional intelligence is valued in technology communities...when the men have problems or need mentorship.</p>
<p>One thing that would make hackerspaces more welcoming to the groups that are not showing up is visibly throwing in with them - despite the discomfort or confusion, making inclusiveness a permanent priority. There is no magic bullet. You must actually decide to care about the issue in an ongoing manner in order to make progress.</p>
<p>Uh, and genuinely seek to practice listening along with speaking.</p>
<p>R.</p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Jan 18, 2013 3:45 AM, "Bill French" <<a href="mailto:william.french@gmail.com" target="_blank">william.french@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:13px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">Greetings, again, from heavily armed, definition crazed, white, male, America! "America: Why are we so dumb?"</span></div>
<div><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:13px;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><br></span></div><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:13px;font-family:arial,sans-serif"> /Rule #1: When a girl comes through the doors, do NOT try to find</span><br style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:13px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">
<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:13px;font-family:arial,sans-serif"> her on social networking or dating sites!</span><br style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:13px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">
<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:13px;font-family:arial,sans-serif"> /</span><div><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:13px;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><br>
</span></div><div><span><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif">It's weird to me that this is the only piece of practical (right or wrong, it's practical to understand, if not implement) advice i've picked up in this conversation. I really hope I didn't miss anything else. As a white, male, 30ish person, president of a mostly male hackerspace (current list has us at 15% female), i recognize that the attitude of "please, just tell me what to do, so we can fix this!" is not very helpful, but short of going for a masters in women's studies, i'm not sure where the middle ground is. I don't even know if Women's Studies would be the right thing to study. Maybe it is even offensive to say that. I don't know! I think basically being called a clueless idiot who doesn't get it, especially based on factors of my birth beyond my control, is not the middle ground, either. I hate to see such "teaching moments" get wasted. I want to learn. Who here wants to intentionally oppress women?</font></span></div>
<div><span><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></span></div><div><span><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif">I do know that I love my mother, my wife, and my sister (all different people, to be clear) and would not want them to ever feel uncomfortable or unwelcome <b>anywhere</b> by <b>anyone</b>. But I don't know where to start to learn how to be better, how to help other be better, and make our space the best it can be, that is reasonably practical among everything else I need to do. <i>I also want to hack.</i></font></span></div>
<div><span><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></span></div><div><span><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif">ANYWAY, rule #1 bothers me, could rule #1 be changed somewhat:</font></span></div>
<div><span><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></span></div><blockquote style="margin:0 0 0 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><span><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif">Rule #1: This space respects personal privacy. All people entering this space have a reasonable expectation of privacy. To that end, do not Google, Facebook, or otherwise search for anyone, their families, or their friends without explicitly asking them directly for permission, first. Everyone is here for their own reasons. If you want to know, ask them, wait for them to tell you, or mind your own fucking business.</font></span></div>
</blockquote><div><br></div><div>Thoughts?</div>
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