Slashdot Mirror
The Daily Harassment of Women In the Game Industry
An anonymous reader writes: Brianna Wu, leader of a game development studio, has an article exposing the constant harassment of women in the games industry. She says, "I'm not writing this piece to evoke your sympathy. I'm writing to share with you what prominent, successful women in the industry experience, in their own words." She goes through the individual stories of several women targeted by this vitriol, and tries to figure out why it happens. Quoting: "We live in a society that's sexist in ways it doesn't understand. One of the consequences is that men are extremely sensitive to being criticized by women. ... This is why women are socialized to carefully dance around these issues, disagreeing with men in an extremely gentle manner. Not because women are nicer creatures than men. But because our very survival can depend on it. ... Growing a thicker skin isn't the answer, nor is it a proper response. Listening, and making the industry safer for the existence of visible women is the best, and only, way forward."
Welcome to the internet where people come in droves to say all kinds of shit they can't say in the real world.
I'm not saying it's right... but anybody who has played call of duty multiplayer knows their sexual orientation, where their mother is and that they are going to be murdered. Anybody who has posted something controversial that has gotten any significant attention has gotten floods of hate emails.
This is how the internet is. It doesn't matter what color your skin is or what your gender is.
Maybe its just me, but I've been in tech for 10+ years and have worked in everything from the military to startups to a giant multinational bank and I have never once witnessed any behavior that could be construed as untoward, nor has any been reported to me. Yet somehow it seems every time I look at Slashdot I see a story about 'brogrammers' and othe muh patriarchy bullshit.
Yes I'm a white male, check my privilege and whatnot but I have to imagine all of these stories are coming from rabid tumbler drones who support mandatory castration, because frankly I check my dick at the door every morning and I love and respect my female coworkers the same as I do male ones, gay ones, Indians, and whoever else has proven the merit to sit next to me.
Maybe this environment of sexism is isolated to the west coast or Texas or something, but up here in the northeast I can honestly say I don't buy this shit for a second, and the constant stories are really just fatiguing to those of us who have always done the right thing since day one.