Re: Hello and introduction
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Erinn Clark wrote:
> w00t! Game developers! I am sort of a budding one myself (currently
> making casual games go on airplanes using semi-embedded Linux...)
Just make sure you stay away from the bright, shiny EA sign :)
> What about female-dominated environments has made you feel like you
> don't fit in, specifically? I think I've felt this way in the past,
> but for me it had more to do with not feeling "polite" enough and
> being accused of being too hostile/aggressive.
Stronger emphasis on communication via subtext and innuendo, a focus on
superficial harmony instead of honesty and discussion (this may be what
you experienced), commonly a reluctance to try activities seen as "guys'
stuff", e.g. be "too geeky", or at least to get "too involved" in them
despite what may be a strong interest. Those are the ones I can think of
right now.
That doesn't mean I like most male-dominated environments either, since
they certainly have their share of problems, but they tend to at least
be more direct and thus easier to parse, and I'm not expected to like
them, so there was no exception to mention.
> Your comment about social wiring piques my interest, I think, because
> (due to your mention of autism at the end of your bio) I'm wondering
> if there are some things a lot of us don't notice because they're
> really subtle behaviors we've picked up along the way and they are
> either natural to us or we've learned to mimic them effectively.
[With some clarifications via IRC]
In the sense that you meant, i.e. do these things exist; yes, they
definitely do. Rules, conventions, behaviours, gestures, figures of
speech, implied statements and many other things.
These are in a way invisible to me, since I can't pick up on and learn
them the usual way and since I'm still unaware of many of them, and in
another way extremely visible, since I've had to consciously learn every
single one of them that I do know.
In the sense that I thought you meant, i.e. do these things
contribute towards excluding [people like] me; in general, oh my
yes, since people assume I know all these things, that for example my
often very literal statements mean completely different things, and far
too many other things to even begin to list.
As for DW, so far, no, you've all been great. Bringing this up in a
feminist forum is a bit odd (and scary), however, since most of the
blatant discrimination I encounter comes equally from both genders.
> What about DW differs, in your opinion? I have my own theories about
> what the differences may be, but I'm really interested in hearing
> yours.
For one thing, it's focused on getting things done, whether they're
technical or cultural. It also has no social tax, as far as I can tell.
One can choose to be actively social, but there are no unsolicited
attempts to 'include' or 'engage' people, that I've seen.
I agree with what Christian wrote, and here I was in error, in that
another positive aspect of DW is that it has active members of _both_
genders, which I think tempers tendendices towards either gender's
extreme. That, to me, is a Good Thing. It's constructed to include, not
to gather in seclusion.
Also, Debian in general is a truly international community, so the
(civilised) parts of it seems not to make as many assumptions about
shared culture as a smaller or less diverse one would.
Anthropologically,
Camilla
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