Is pr0n an appropriate metaphor for databases? ⇒
30 April 2009, late morning
Oh you stupid computer dorks. And people wonder why women don't come to tech conferences. Enjoyable: A Selection Of Thoughts From Actual Women. My thoughts on this are over here: Where are all the Ladies? I think the Rails community in particular attracts this stupidness, but I can't be sure. Update: The conference organizer apologizes. It's a well thought out post. And DHH acts like a douche and says something simple. (For starters, has this dude actually ever spoke to a women doctor or lawyer, because I'm pretty sure they aren't all happy-go-lucky about their situation.) There are so many dumb-asses in Computer Science: it's disappointing. And the worse part is they aren't even aware they are dumb asses. Update: SmutOnRails.
This is a post from my link log: If you click the title of this post you will be taken the web page I am discussing.
This is totally overblown. There’s obviously a gender imbalance in computer jobs but it’s nothing specific to Ruby or Rails. The discussion is worthwhile in general. As a reaction to that presentation it’s too much.
And this really has nothing to do with Rails, except for DHH’s posts. The presentation was at a Ruby conference and it was about Couchdb, which is mostly Erlang and Javascript.
by grant on April 30 2009, 1:27 pm #
There’s obviously a gender imbalance in computer jobs but it’s nothing specific to Ruby or Rails.
This is true. The gender imbalance issue isn’t specifically an issue with Ruby or with Rails. Still, at conferences the imbalance seems way higher then it actually should be. When I was at University, the gender imbalance certainly didn’t match the levels one sees at conferences and tech events. 3% of the attendees at this event were women, which was seen as an accomplishment. (And sadly, it actually is.) My classes at school were probably 30% women. Maybe more? I wish I had numbers for the attendance at more mainstream, lamer, conferences like JavaConf or something.
This is totally overblown.
I agree this has reached some Internet hysteria tipping point, but this is kind of ridiculous. This is why women probably don’t show up to these sorts of events: they are essentially boy-zones. (In this case, quite literally.) If you read the comment threads in a lot of these posts, they consist of way too many, “Women need to get over themselves,” sorts of comments. I think this is probably a popular sentiment in the entire tech industry. I think this presentation just pushed it into the lime-light again.
And this really has nothing to do with Rails.
People right at the top of the Rails community seem to think this was totally cool. DHH has two posts on the this topic, each dumb in their own way. Matt Aimonetti is a core member of the Merb team, now a core member of the Rails team. And his ‘apology’ was one of those, “sorry you felt offended” non-apologies. He put the actual couchDB guy in a tough spot. (And even the comments in that post are full of “women need to get over themselves” stuff. WTF Dudes?) Anyway, yes you are right, this has more to do with particular people than with Rails as a programming framework.
No doubt there is stupidness in all sorts of tech communities. Like I said, that’s kind of disappointing.
by ramanan on April 30 2009, 2:38 pm #
Rails != It’s Core Team. I realise i’m being lazy when I talk about Ruby on Rails community as a homogenous entity.
by ramanan on April 30 2009, 2:51 pm #
“This incident has now grown beyond a conference presentation and a slide-deck on the web. The issue is no longer the presentation, but the reaction of the community to this event. The leaders, particularly David Heinemeier Hansson as the most visible figure, now face an important time in influencing what the future of the community will be.” — SmutOnRails by Martin Fowler
by ramanan on April 30 2009, 3:07 pm #
I’m a technology generalist who attends every flavor of gathering. It’s impossible to avoid noticing that, even by the lopsided standard of high-tech culture, the Ruby and Rails communities are dramatically, painfully short of female members. — Tim Bray
by ramanan on May 1 2009, 7:58 am #