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Re: [Womeninfreesoftware] Hello, and a Question


From: Mary-Anne Wolf
Subject: Re: [Womeninfreesoftware] Hello, and a Question
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:06:02 +0000 (UTC)

It was my partner, Arthur, who asked the question
at Software Freedom Day.  The analogy with the way
that a politician could make one mistake which is
repeated too often (see, for example,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Dean)
is closer to a summary of what
was said than the analogy with Trolling on a forum,
even if the word "Troll" was used.

Arthur and I had discussed the issue before the event.
I had considered making disparaging remarks about
"a man who is not getting any and is getting 
desperate", and had decided against that idea,
so Arthur decided to bring it up.

I am well aware that, maybe 10 to 20 years ago, 
Mr. Stallman had a reputation in the local folk 
dancing community for flirting with females 
very much younger than he was.  I do not know 
how successful he was, but his habit was seen 
by some as a problem at the time.  So his
social skills with the opposite sex have been
known to be a problem for a long time.

I believe that Stallman does not understand 
the implications of what he did.  He feels 
attacked by the level of fuss being made
about his actions.  I do not see how anyone
can teach him about it, because he is a White
Male, so there is no way to imagine him in 
an analogous situation.

I do not confuse Stallman's personal
peculiarities with my opinion of FSF
as an organization.

Mary-Anne

----- "Lefty (石鏡 )" <address@hidden> wrote:

> From: "Lefty (石鏡 )" <address@hidden>
> To: address@hidden
> Sent: Monday, September 28, 2009 10:45:36 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: [Womeninfreesoftware] Hello, and a Question
>
> Just joined the list after reading, with some interest, the output of
> the
> ³mini-summit².
> 
> Deborah writes:
> >
> > "Why aren't more women involved in the movement to maintain and
> secure
> > freedom for all computer users?" There is nothing particularly male
> > about either computers or freedom -- and yet women account for
> fewer
> > than 2% of our community.
> 
> Well, no time like the present, I suppose. FYI, this is Lefty
> attempting to
> be polite and nonconfrontational on a thorny and somewhat frustrating
> issue.
> Please don't shoot the piano player: he's doing the best he can.
> 
> At the Gran Canaria Desktop Summit, there was indeed nothing
> ³particularly
> male² about either computers or freedom, other than the roughly
> 30-to-1
> male-to-female ratio; it seemed that ³EMACS virgins² were
> ³particularly
> female², however. I was amazed to find no particular mention of this
> in the
> notes to the mini-summit, quite frankly.
> 
> Maybe I¹m the only one who viewed this as an issue contributing to the
> fact
> that ³women account for fewer than 2% of our community². Maybe I¹m
> just the
> only one _mentioning_ it. It does strike me as a large-ish elephant in
> the
> room, however.
> 
> I think everyone has to admit that 2009 has been a blue-ribbon year
> for
> heavily sexualized presentations, by men, at technical conferences.
> What is
> the FSF doing to set a better example than was shown in Gran Canaria?
> Is any
> apology, or statement, planned regarding having been a _contributor_
> to the
> problem in that instance?
> 
> "I want the [...] open source [...] communities [I participate in] to
> be a
> dignified, respectful, inclusive, and welcoming place. Š We¹ve all
> been
> witnesses to off-color jokes, misogynistic back channel chatter,
> questionable imagery and unnecessary, trolling comments. _I pledge to
> do
> better to stand up and call this behavior out when I see it in
> conferences,
> online and other public settings. I don¹t expect it to go away but I¹m
> not
> going to tacitly condone it any longer._"
> 
> I've been trying here.
> 
> I'm informed, by the bye, that when this question came up at Software
> Freedom Day in Boston, the President of the FSF apparently informed
> the
> questioner that "The person who brought that up seems to be a
> troll-like
> enemy of the free software movement."
> 
> _That's_ an interesting starting point.
> 
> Anyway, I'm quite interested in any practical outcomes that spring
> from this
> effort...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> womeninfreesoftware mailing list
> address@hidden
> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/womeninfreesoftware




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