Sensing Some Similarity

I have not delved very deeply into the explosion in the Rails community that apparently began with some ill-considered slides in a presentation. Mike G. is on top of it and decided there was too much nonsense and denial and obnoxiousness to continue his role with the Rails Activists.   In the little bits of conversation that I skimmed, I just ended up feeling tired. Why are we still having to have these conversations about how women are real people too? Certain technology communities, in fact many tech communities, can be such fraternities, in the worst sense of the word. (Update: Martin Fowler’s commentary on the whole situation.)

Then someone in my Twitter stream pointed to this article at Politico about growing pains at Talking Points Memo. While I am really not impressed with Politico at all, this article accords with a few other things I’ve seen and observed.  Apparently there are some concerns about how the culture that’s evolving within the TPM corporate environment treats women. And JMM denies, at least in this article, that there are any issues.

Over the years I’ve lamented on and offline about how the “progressive” blog-boyz have tended to be ignorant about or downright hostile to women and women’s issues[1].  I haven’t seen much improvement, frankly. And JMM’s apparent casual dismissal — there are other possible responses beyond noting that some men have quit, too — is merely the latest predictable disappointment.

Bummer.

[1] Hate the term ‘women’s issues’ too -  way ghettoizing, but it’s a shorthand, I guess.