[hackerspaces] Women in Makerspaces

[David Powell]

I just want to go on record and apologize for my reply in this thread. It
was just brought to my attention that I am catching a lot of heat for the
reply on other social media sites. I think many of my words are being
twisted to mean something totally different that what I was attempting to
say. I was not at all trying to be sexist but I can see now how my words
would make it sound like I was. I was simply saying that I hold all members
equally responsible to make the space their own no matter what their
gender. Saying that we go out of our way to make women feel comfortable is
simply how we handle things now. It does not mean my opinion can not be
changed. I never claimed that I was perfect. Posting comments on twitter
misquoting my words does not help me learn from my mistakes so please stop.
If you know of reasons why we should not be walking the women to their cars
or making sure we give them help when we know they need help then please
reply here and let me know what I am doing wrong.

I want to leave you all with this also. Last week we had a really nice
women come to our space and afterward she posted a comment about us"

"Thanks for a great afternoon. I learned so much. I'm on ebay looking for
the Sparkfun Inventor's Kit. If anyone's 12-year old is tired of their's
and wants to sell it, plz email me at lil-c at lycos.com. Thanks to the nice
gentleman who helped me for 2 hours with the kit. I'm glad my java class
did not go to waste. What a great group of guys and it is safe for women to
be there!!!!!!"

My original reply was made with this comment in mind. I took the last
sentence of that comment as an appreciation for us not being pigs. So we
must be doing something right. Maybe not everything but something.

Again my apologies for anyone I pissed off with my last reply. I still have
a lot to learn.

David
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