No, it wouldn't be.
It would be offensive to suggest biological rather than sociological reasons, though.
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Jonathan Blow (The Witness, Braid) thinks women are biologically less interested in tech than men
- Thread starter Muffin
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No, it wouldn't be.
It would be offensive to suggest biological rather than sociological reasons, though.
Have you looked at like any historical graphs or stats? Women were forced OUT of tech.
Doesn't disprove what he is saying.
I think saying men and women on average have different interests isn't controversial. It has nothing to do with aptitude or ability just the desire to do something. Traditionally, women have been interested in people and men with things. Or so the saying goes.
i personally think men are predisposed to not like cooking, which is why i get pissed off at all these fake cooking guys that infest my screens. /s
As a women who recently completed a Masters in Mechanical Engineering, you have no idea why women are doing it less. Do you have any idea how disheartening it is when you say what you are studying and every single time, people look at you as if you are some oddity and the only thing they can think to say is "Not many girls study that!". And that's the tame reponses. Once, at a dedication to my dead grandfather, the minister came up to me and asked why I couldn't do a more "feminine" profession like teaching. I felt like shit that day, and that just made a hard day so much worse. And there's a number of other little instances that just add up to making you really really doubt yourself. So, at this point, I have zero tolerance for this bullshit.
Member was warned for branding a game developer a white supremacist
Wait so the guy that made those really overrated games I didn't like is also a Nazi MRA fuckhead.
Oh man, you don't say.
Oh man, you don't say.
First of all, I'm entitled to my opinion that Jonathan Blow knows what he is saying because he's been in this industry for decades. If he thinks women are not interested in tech because of biological factors then I trust his stance on it.
OP
OP
Does the word "biologically" mean anything to you or nah?
My previous development manager was a woman and so were two of my fellow software developers in the same office. They all did great work and were universally respected by the rest of the predominantly-male engineering teams. Plenty of adults in tech respect people for their contribution and intelligence and don't care the slightest bit about gender.
He didn't say generally, he said biologically. And men aren't biologically more predisposed to cars because nature has no clue what a car even is.
I'd go with nurture over nature, but look at the world around you. There must be a reason that most women you meet aren't into tech. Twitter (and forums) are probably a bad place to go into this though. Que a thousand irate nerds braying milkshake duck like it means something.
That oestrogen kicked in hard in the mid 80s. I mean, that curve just screams biology and not sociology at me.
In this post-fact society, who needs data?
Wait, he's a Nazi MRA fuckhead now lol? I thought this was about women biologically being less interested in tech?
Obviously, though, it's definitely our culture, and the fact is computer science is not really blowing people away men or women. I liked C++, but I certainly will not be getting a degree in it as a man because I'm not interested in that language, especially as an English grad LOL.
Call me feminine Blow! I am interested in the tech though!
I don't see an issue with his statement itself, but I'd like to see how he came to such a conclusion. You need real evidence to back up claims like this.
How about you respond to one of the dozens of other replies calling your shit out with more sound reasoning?
We should acknowledge dumb opinions by explaining why and actually, y'know, debating them. If you can't have an honest conversation, how do you really know you're right.
And if someone says something dumb on Twitter in good faith*, the appropriate thing to do is to reply why you disagree not to screenshot it and spread it around social media alongside "hey look at this thing this guy said, isn't he stupid?"
*"in good faith" being the key, here. IE, a troll who harasses Anita because she's the devil is not making a comment in good faith.
Edit: In the past, I've tweeted some stupid opinions. In a couple of cases, strangers even responded and discussed them with me. I eventually realized that I was wrong.
If I saw a topic like this on resetera about one of my stupid tweets, I'd be pretty hurt. And I wouldn't consider it warranted.
Plenty.
Regardless of how much you may think he's right or wrong, to suggest that there could differences between sexes in their natural inclination to like (or dislike) something is in absolutely NO WAY the equivalent of claiming that "women should stay in kitchen" or even just that "women don't belong there".
That's a very disingenuous way to try to paint him as the villain.
Come on, that's gotta be bait, right?! Otherwise, holy shit at the mental gymnastics here.
Edit: Also, for fun.
I can't find the other tweet, but it basically went "the doomsday clock on Blow becomes another Notch just ticked up a minute".
It's probably because people with an understanding of how men and women are biologically different know that doesn't have anything to do with tech jobs.
The reasons why women are prominent in tech are not at all mysterious or hard to figure out.
It isn't. It's like saying "Men are biologically more interested in cars than women", which is a ridiculous thing to say without biological research. You can account for men being more interested in cars than women (in general) due to social factors (such as being the target of advertising, due to a history of being the household 'bread-winners' and being the sole working family member in many decades past, needing a vehicle to commute).
I don't like what he said either but to jump to Nazi and MRA is ridiculous. If you have a case to make, make it, but Blow looks to be just a generic backward and arrogant asshole.
Maybe Blow should speak to some actual women in tech and get their opinions on it
Just a thought
Can't really be a milkshake duck if you are an insufferable asshole to begin with.
I'm pretty sure he was implying that women don't belong to the tech world.
Or maybe those are the usual preconceptions a patriarchal society built from the start of civilizations.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/19883140/
Also if you look at where women have had more freedom to chose what they study I remember reading an article that shows they are less likely to pic certain fields than when they have less freedom to choose and the article cited India and China
Maybe women aren't interested in Tech because from the moment of birth they're all told that Tech is for boys only WHO KNOWS
Yeah, and that's shitty. I totally get why people are sensitive about it in this particular context because of the rough history of women in the coding/engineering industry.
And Blow is a cunt about it either way, and a real absolutist, which isn't the sort of personality that should be having this conversation (nevermind on TWITTER, the worst format in the world for nuanced conversation).
But is the idea that social and cultural pressures are somehow informed by the biological differences between men and women really that horrible? The issue isn't that there's differences, it's that men exploit those differences in order to marginalize the viewpoints and opinions of women.
It is so maddening that people keep repeating this STUPID IGNORANT NONSNSE when studies have shown that the reason women seem less interested in engineering is because societal norms nudge them away from STEM majors.
Seriously STOP SAYING THIS SHIT. Jesus fucking christ read an article or two before spouting this garbage. Fuck
I watched that but the problem is still fundamentally with his personality. Basically he was already an asshole just amplified by internet negativity.
Why is it so hard for people in positions of power to just not say anything? Just don't say anything. If you have to split hairs about what you mean to defend yourself from a position that in no way furthered any objective of yours, why say it at all? Just be quiet.
Member was warned for disingenuous posting. Not telling the whole story about James Damore
I am not sure if it is biological rather than the environment that coders work in. Coding currently is a solo job for the most part and as women are generally more social creatures, it doesnt appeal to them for that reason. That guy that got fired from google proposed to adopt a new method of coding that involves people cooperatively working together to do tasks and thinks that should make coding more attractive to women. It is a shame that only the right wing are willing to talk to him and the coding community has black listed him for his memo.
I'd just like some evidence, but I'm not going to go full crazy person and say his games are totally bad. Definitely a wee bit boring at times though good games worth most of your time.
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