On Wed, Mar 03, 2004 at 09:02:41PM -0600, Manoj Srivastava wrote:
> On Wed, 3 Mar 2004 17:04:36 -0500 (EST), Jaldhar H Vyas <jaldhar@debian.org> said:
>
> >> > I have never had a hostile experience with debian, but I still
> >> > feel really unconfident when I interact with the debian
> >> > community, even if it's only posting a bug report. I don't
> >> > understand why this is so, but it's very real. Partly it's
> >> > knowing that I'm going to be dealing with a man (almost
> >> > certainly), and he may assume I don't know what I'm doing, and he
> >> > may put me down or be condescending or unkind as a result.
> >>
>
> > Helen I hope you don't take this the wrong way but the problem isn't
> > that you're a woman or nearly all Debian developers are male. The
> > problem is you are a flake. (No that wasn't an attempt to put you
> > down or be unkind. It's simply the most accurate word I can think
> > of. If anyone knows a proper psychological term for what I'm
> > describing I'll use that.) Vague fears of persecution are a sign of
> > mental instability which can't be fixed by an operating system free
> > or otherwise.
>
> Heh. Seems tome that you are merely displaying your
> inexperience and ignorance (No that wasn't an attempt to put you
> down or be unkind -- there is no shame in not knowing stuff yet).
>
> What Helen mentions is not a feeling that is an isolated case,
> and felt just by her. This is a wide spread phenomena. My wife has a
> Ph.D., and is widely published, and has landed two tenure track jobs
> (which, in biology, is quite a feat). And yet, she says she still has
> to struggle with exactly the same feelings that Helen describes. It
> is not inexperience, and it seems unrelated to the skill set.
>
> My wife also has been involved in Women in Science groups on
> three separate campuses across the country, and stories and
> experiences like this abound. Another facet is the this is the
> absolute denial by the their male colleagues that any such feelings
> could ever exist, which I think is horribly short sighted behaviour
> for these guys -- considering that they are not women.
<dark> "hysterical" is actually an interesting word, it basically
means "having a womb". Psychologists once thought it was something
women did naturally.
--
.''`. ** Debian GNU/Linux ** | Andrew Suffield
: :' : http://www.debian.org/ |
`. `' |
`- -><- |
Attachment:
signature.asc
Description: Digital signature