AlterNet: The Down Side of Slashdot:
Yet slowly I began to feel the same way about their comments that I feel when a right-winger tells me that if I want to promote socialism, I should just move to another country. The problem is, I love my country. It fucking rocks. And I love Slashdot too. I don't want to run away. This is my home, and I want to stay here and fight for justice. I want women to get excited by all the cool articles on Slashdot and not get driven away by a community that values them for their bodies instead of their thoughts.
So I went back and began rereading the comments on Slashdot about my article. At least half of them were written by outraged readers who asked why my looks were relevant. A woman had posted about how this kind of treatment was exactly why so few women are in the tech industry. It wasn't a solid wall of sexism -- there was a debate going on. And for every sexist dick, there was at least one feminist dick talking back to him. Even the guy who'd written the post sent me an e-mail apologizing for having used the word gorgeous, explaining that his English was really bad and he hadn't intended to inspire the kinds of comments he had.
7:22 PM
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