Negative / Visible / Social: Sexism in the tech industry
Show Notes
We look at the tech industry’s persistent habit of treating women badly – both overtly, in terms of sexual harassment, and less overtly, in terms of simply hiring and mentoring fewer women. What can we do to improve matters? What is the responsibility of individuals? Of companies? Of culture at large? Of the government?
Links
Recent examples of sexism in the tech industry:
“Reflecting On One Very, Very Strange Year At Uber” – Susan J. Fowler, with the piece that plunged Uber into its current, very much deserved, hot mess by explaining just how sexist its internal practices were.
“The fall of 500 Startups CEO Dave McClure” – Marisa Kendall, writing for the Mercury News, on Dave McClure of 500 Startups, who was forced to resign after (apparently well-founded) allegations of sexual harassment.
“The long-term cost of sexual harassment” – Catherine Shu, writing for TechCrunch, with a description of her own experience of being harassed and the way it affected her long term.
“Can Venture Capital Be Saved?” – Mitch and Freada Kapor, making a case for their own VC fund’s approach, with a clear recognition that (awful as it is) sexual harassment is a symptom of yet deeper problems with VC culture:
How can the industry celebrate people who glory in breaking all the rules, ask forgiveness not permission, and then be surprised when people are predatory, abusive and pursue their own desires at the expense and over the objection of others?
“I’m a startup founder and I had sex with an investor — and I am sorry” – Perri Chase, writing for Business Insider, with a really thoughtful reflection on the current state of affairs, including a frank admission of her own choices and how they have played into things, but without blaming victims (a hard line to walk).
Previously on the show:
Season 3 – many reflections on business success by way of taking the slow road.
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan: 8.22
Stephen’s list
Twitter and Tear Gas
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore
The Printing Press as an Agent of Change
The Postmodern Condition
Contact
Jurassic Park
Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness
The Real World of Technology
Phaedrus
The Age of Spiritual Machines
Evolution as a Religion
Chris’s list
Twitter and Tear Gas
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore
The Printing Press as an Agent of Change
Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness
Jurassic Park
Phaedrus
Contact
The Real World of Technology
The Postmodern Condition
The Age of Spiritual Machines
Evolution as a Religion
Credits
Music
“Foxglove”, by Ryan Dugré. Used by permission, please don’t use without permission.
“Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want.
Sponsors
Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors:
Daniel Ellcey
Douglas Campos
Jake Grant
Marnix Klooster
Spencer Smith
If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash.
Respond
We love to hear your thoughts. Shoot us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!
“Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want.
Sponsors
Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors:
Daniel Ellcey
Douglas Campos
Jake Grant
Marnix Klooster
Spencer Smith
If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash.
Respond
We love to hear your thoughts. Shoot us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!
“Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want.
Sponsors
Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors:
Daniel Ellcey
Douglas Campos
Jake Grant
Marnix Klooster
Spencer Smith
If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash.
Respond
We love to hear your thoughts. Shoot us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!
“Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want.
Sponsors
Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors:
Daniel Ellcey
Douglas Campos
Jake Grant
Marnix Klooster
Spencer Smith
If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash.
Respond
We love to hear your thoughts. Shoot us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!
After reading Carl Sagan’s 1985 novel Contact and watching the 1995 movie of the same name, we discuss a major epistemological question: what are the acceptable grounds for belief? Are religious belief and scientific proof compatible? Sagan’s surprisingly nuanced views give us interesting ways forward.
Things we mentioned on the show, in the order we mentioned them:
“Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want.
Sponsors
Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors:
Daniel Ellcey
Douglas Campos
Jake Grant
Marnix Klooster
Spencer Smith
If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash.
Respond
We love to hear your thoughts. Shoot us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!
We read Carl Sagan’s 1985 novel Contact and watched the 1995 movie of the same name. In this episode, our overview of the book: its plot and its basic interests.
Things we mentioned on the show, in the order we mentioned them:
“Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want.
Sponsors
Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors:
Daniel Ellcey
Douglas Campos
Jake Grant
Marnix Klooster
Spencer Smith
If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash.
Respond
We love to hear your thoughts. Shoot us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!
John Rawls, the specific claim Stephen most has a problem with is the veil of ignorance concept explained in this page (although this is not mentioned in the episode)
“Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want.
Sponsors
Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors:
Daniel Ellcey
Douglas Campos
Jake Grant
Marnix Klooster
Spencer Smith
If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash.
Respond
We love to hear your thoughts. Shoot us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!
“Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want.
Sponsors
Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors:
Daniel Ellcey
Douglas Campos
Jake Grant
Marnix Klooster
Spencer Smith
If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash.
Respond
We love to hear your thoughts. Shoot us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!
We point out several concerns that we have with the arguments Dr. Franklin makes in her lectures-turned-book: the ineffectiveness of her holistic and prescriptive technologies frame, her deeply cynical view on policy, and other thorny places that her arguments lead (like the Soviet Union).
Bay of Pigs invasion, also sometimes known as the Bay of Pigs incident: Stephen’s point in bringing this up was to allude to the point made neatly in the Wikipedia article: “[The failed invasion] also pushed Cuba closer to the Soviet Union, and those strengthened Soviet-Cuban relations would lead to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.”
“Vista” by Escaper. Used by permission, please don’t use without permission. We usually announce that on the show, but a technical error resulted in a second straight month without verbal crediting. Argh! Argh!
“Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want.
Sponsors
Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors:
Daniel Ellcey
Douglas Campos
Jake Grant
Marnix Klooster
Spencer Smith
If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash.
Respond
We love to hear your thoughts. Shoot us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!