A merry linkspamming band (1st September, 2011)

• Results from the 2011 Wikipedia Editor Survey: using only logged-in users as subjects (so, different to the 2008 UNU-Merit study – WMF intends to use this one as a baseline for future studies). Had 4,930 total respondents, of which 434 (9%) identified as female.
• Calling Pythonista sisters: Five reasons to attend a coding conference: Five reasons women should consider attending events like PyCon AU.
• Nurture affects gender differences in spatial abilities. In this study, we use a large-scale incentivized experiment with nearly 1,300 participants to show that the gender gap in spatial abilities, measured by time to solve a puzzle, disappears when we move from a patrilineal society to an adjoining matrilineal society. (Mainstream audience summary at Ars Technica.)
• (Warning: screenshots of video game violence.) “Did she just money-shot herself with his neck-blood?”: And in a patriarchal society where masculine = good, strong and feminine = bad, weak these women (made by dudes for dudes) exist as tokens of counterfeit empowerment because they enact male fantasies of power. This is why the femme fatale, despite having no narrative agency, is sold as a strong character.
• The Luxury of “Reasonable”: But there’s a reason [Brandon] Sanderson can be so reasonable [about his faith-based anti-homosexuality beliefs]… He’s not being told he can’t bring his boyfriend to his own prom. Agents/editors aren’t rejecting his work because he wrote about LGBT characters. He’s not being denied basic rights…
• Different takes on rape and negative portrayals of women in George R.R. Martin’s fiction (meta discussion, some satirical, not graphic):
  • Enter Ye Myne Mystic World of Gayng-Raype: What the “R” Stands for in “George R.R. Martin”: Sady Doyle is no fan of George R.R. Martin.
  • Feminist Media Criticism, George R.R. Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire, And That Sady Doyle Piece: Alyssa Rosenberg criticises Sady Doyle’s take, in particular that she reads it as coming close to stating that no artistic depiction of sexual violence is acceptable, and that the anti-geek tone is harmful. Now, sexism is more entrenched and more broadly impactful than disdain for nerds. But that doesn’t actually mean that these kinds of statements are useful or clever when they’re deployed by feminists against nerds…
• Meanwhile, Sady Doyle takes on mansplainers.
• When computer programming was “women’s work’. Reflections by recruiter Anna Lewis on learning about the historic status of programming.
• Changing the Ratio at SXSW. Emma Persky does detailed analysis of SXSW’s presenter gender breakdown.
• So seriously, why aren’t there more women in science?: Yes, the perennial question, but there are some brief interviews with some leading women scientists: Cathy Foley, CSIRO division chief; Suzanne Cory, Australian Academy of Science President; Mahananda Dasgupta professor in ANU Department of Nuclear Physics and others.

You can suggest links for future linkspams in comments here, or by using the “geekfeminism” tag on delicious, freelish.us or pinboard.in or the “#geekfeminism” tag on Twitter. Please note that we tend to stick to publishing recent links (from the last month or so).

Thanks to everyone who suggested links.

It’s not a gender issue, it’s a linkspam issue (25th March, 2010)

• Clara Raubertas has a wrap-up of the women-in-Free-Software focussed talks and events at the Free Software Foundation’s LibrePlanet 2010.
• Richie is highly critical of an look-a-unicorn-in-wargaming entry at Bell of Lost Souls and goes on to be horrified at gamers patting themselves on the back for ignoring racism
• Revenge of the Nerds: Fighting Sexism at Tech Events: imperfect (blames women for SXSWi being less technical? wtf?) but interesting article by Wendy Norris nonetheless
• Culture and children remain biggest barriers to women in tech: *HEADDESK*. Chris O’Brien, one-time stay-at-home father, is reminded that it’s so often mothers that have to plan and shuttle around children.
• Erin Robinson is over being asked about women in game development
• Women, Stop Saying You Hate Math: A good post and interesting comment thread on gender and math!
• Bias Called Persistent Hurdle for Women in Sciences: Teaching girls about how stereotypes affect performance, the report found, can diminish such effects.
• Rosalie Marshall wants to combat misconceptions of tech careers, in order to stop the fall in European women choosing them
• Know it All programmable felted bag: Knitty Spring+Summer 2010: Awesomely nerdy, maker-y bag made of felting and and Arduino Lilypad to create a row counter system IN THE BAG

If you have links of interest, please share them in comments here, or if you’re a delicious user, tag them “geekfeminism” to bring them to our attention. Please note that we tend to stick to publishing recent links (from the last month or so).

Thanks to everyone who suggested links in comments and on delicious.

How Very Unlike the Linkspam of Our Own Dear Queen (23rd March, 2010)

• Sexism at Work: Young Women, NEWSWEEK and Gender: NEWSWEEK was the subject of a gender-discrimination case in 1970. Young women currently working at NEWSWEEK reflect on the case and the current state of the battle.
• Why ask for an unskilled, not-yet-involved comaintainer?: Christine Spang explores the difference between saying she's be willing to mentor someone inexperienced in Debian packaging, and saying she'd prefer to mentor someone inexperienced.
• The sorority of the Ring: Cath Elliott explores what Tolkien’s works have to offer women fans.
• New Research from ABI Highlights the Characteristics That Lead to Advancement of Technical Women: “A new research report released today by the Anita Borg Institute for Women in Technology (ABI) sheds light on the attributes of senior level technical women”
• Notes from the LibrePlanet Women’s Caucus: A point-by-point summary of the FSF Women's Caucus.
• Glamour Slam!: In response to the suvudu cagematch which had not enough women, this LiveJournal community is doing the same, but with all female characters.
• Why SXSW Sucks: Jolie O'Dell reports numerous problems with the SXSWi conference, including harassment and assault of women.
• Women of Color and Wealth — Starting Points and Class Jumping [Part 3]: “Many people think, and I might have been guilty of it, that we need $25,000 per year per student and that’s what it takes to get through college. But really it’s very often $50 problems that knock them out: a car breakdown, a dental bill, a changing shift in their job. So really helping these students, as a policy matter, is a lot cheaper than people think.”
• You Win When They Call You a Bitch: Cinnamon Cooper has a presentation up with slides. “So when you’re called a bitch, instead of letting the argument get derailed, recognize that you’ve outsmarted them. Reply with ‘I win! You aren’t smart enough to continue the conversation, so thanks for ending it.'”

If you have links of interest, please share them in comments here, or if you’re a delicious user, tag them “geekfeminism” to bring them to our attention. Please note that we tend to stick to publishing recent links (from the last month or so).

Thanks to everyone who suggested links in comments and on delicious.

Hottest linkspam evar. Or something. (27th October, 2009)

• “Manolith” has a list of 12 hottest geek girls. I think you can gather from the name of the site how this list is meant to go, but I was surprised to find that the profiles of the women they chose were actually fairly interesting, and they included some serious geek credentials as part of their selection criteria. (No Women near tech for them?) But yeah, although that’s an interesting nugget, the list is a lot of drooling and scantily clad celebrity geeks — click at your own risk, and I’m guessing you should just skip the comments.
• Shweta Narayan explains things to John Ottinger III after his post “For Those Who Cry Sexism or Racism in SF Anthologies, Shut Up”. Ottinger apologizes, Narayan tells him keep on speaking up.
• In one of her other blog lives, our own Liz Henry hosted Disability Blog Carnival #59: Disability and Work. Without reposting the whole carnival, here are some of the posts of geek feminist interest:
  • Disability and Work: What I do, talking about work and play in the light of ideas in Ursula Le Guin’s The Dispossessed, together with disability and unemployment, together with women’s work (including fandom) not counting as real work.
  • Disability Employment Awareness Month, about working at an open source company (warning per Liz: “contain[s] some hatred expressed towards disabled scooter users who are fat”)
• Pamela Fox was asked to prove her technical chops after giving a non-technical talk in a non-technical (apparently) outfit. She asks Should I Defend My Cred?
• Kaliya Hamlin submitted a panel proposal to SXSW entitled “What Guys are Doing to Get More Girls in Tech!”,  SXSW Panel Selected — now to find Panelists
• Despite Elizabeth Blackburn’s Nobel win, women face battles, particularly presence in senior roles.
• Apple’s iPhone App Store is hard on satire, but fine with “Asian Boobs” (note, several sexualized example photographs from the application in question will be displayed at the link)
• A slashdot comment compared the Windows 7 launch to the return of a difficult ex-girlfriend, Decklin Foster parodies with the genders reversed. (Warning: there is ableist language in the original comment and it is not questioned by the parody.)

If you have links of interest, please share them in comments here, or if you’re a delicious user, tag them “geekfeminism” to bring them to our attention. Thanks to everyone who suggested links in comments and on delicious.