Re: metaphors and feminism
On Fri, Mar 29, 2019 at 08:42:30AM +0100, Stacey Lee wrote:
[SNIP]
> If you want to be so picky, there is no way Molly can call herself
> a developer. Where is her code?
What is the basis for the assumption that a "developer" must show code
for his or her work?
It is interesting to me because while producing code is perhaps the most
traditional and visible way for a developer to be recognized as a
developer, during the years that I taught CS/CE at university I had many
students who considered themselves weak programmers. I specifically
counseled every single one of them that writing code was only a small
part of being a developer. For example, bug reports need to be written,
reviewed, triaged, reproduced, etc. Test plans need to be written and
executed. Team resources need to be managed, etc. I saw how this idea
encouraged students who considered themselves weak programmers to find
that there are other aspects of being a developer that might be as
appealing to them as writing code is to others.
I do not know about Molly specifically, but to say that someone cannot
be considerd a developer without having written code demonstrates a
fundamental misunderstanding about what being a developer is in general.
[SNIP]
> Do the rest of us women have to give up coding and run around putting
> labels on men to become developers in this community?
Not at all. There are many ways to contribute to Debian and writing
code is only one way. If that is your preferred method of contribution,
then by all means jump right in.
> For me, being
> a feminist and being a developer don't mean the same things that they mean
> for Molly. Please don't let these women with their yellow vests,
> lanyards and whistles take that away from me.
The actions of another only take away what you allow them to take away.
Regards,
-Roberto
--
Roberto C. Sánchez
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