[hackerspaces] Women in Makerspaces

[Rhys Rhaven]

The unacceptable environment reported here has to do with long hours and
other 'machoness' where her suggest alternative values were 'taking care
of each other.'

A man (I think) suggested that the idea of machoness doesn't have to be
connected to dedication/drive and that there is no effective way for a
group to deal with assholes beyond a certain point of assholery (is
there a scale for this?). THIS IS A PRACTICAL REQUEST. Do you make an
committee to decide who is too much of an asshole, they need to go? That
person is too archetypal masculine and that makes me uncomfortable, stop
being so individualist/loner? I think its a lovely idea and maybe one
day people will be nicer, but I signed up to build things not take on
the emotional wellbeing of everyone at the space. (I'm still going to
say something unnecessarily nice when you mess up because I know how it
feels. *hugs*)

Then you Al come along with condescension and say listen to the woman,
leaving it again with nothing but feelings. How about you explain how
you would convince those socially-limited hackerspace members how they
can provide a more supportive/taking-care-of-eachother environment?
Obviously theres something broken with them that we need to fix if we
expect to make women comfortable. What do you think the man who has been
socially awkward all his life but tries to be nice feels like reading
this? Fuck em right? Because they aren't as oppressed as women.

You will keep seeing these responses from men across feminist threads as
long as you keep dismissing that they are people too, privileged or not.

On 01/18/2013 02:29 AM, Al Billings wrote:
> Huh.
>
> Here is an idea. If you want to know why women aren't involved in
> hackerspaces or find them to be an unacceptable environment at times,
> why not ask women instead of, as a man, giving your opinion on what
> woman think?
>
> Of course, woman have done that on this thread and you're dismissing
> their opinions.
>
> See the issue? Is it clear enough for you?
>
> Al