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WISE women in computer science

All The Shades of Unsurprised

We’re all outraged at Uber – again. Because it turns out that the company that tolerates sexual harassment from their drivers, and in the government they work with, also tolerates and enables it… amongst their own employees. And yeah, this was really bad, but it’s not like this is just Uber. I’ve heard similar stories from […]

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Programming WISE women in computer science

Discoveries About OSS Culture

I was hanging out with an OSS-dude (OSS = Open Source Software) for a while, and I learned a couple of things. Firstly – don’t try and buy committed OSS types books. It’s a complete nightmare. Secondly – I’ve reached a better understanding of harassment and open source. And particularly the pushback, which comes from […]

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Reflections Social Networking WISE women in computer science

Flawed Humans

As I walked through Barcelona, I came across a tiny hidden museum dedicated to Dalí. As I admired the work, I pulled up his Wikipedia page to learn more about the artist. And discovered that he refused to decry the Nazis, and had been kicked out of the Surrealist movement in part because of it […]

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Social Networking WISE women in computer science

It’s Not That Big a Deal

As an Angry Internet Feminist™, every incident I point out has multiple parts. I notice and say something. Tone policing, on whether I should have noticed it. After all, it’s not that big a deal. Someone uses “he” when they should say “they”? Not that big a deal. Mild objectification of women in something that […]

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Career Networking Presentation WISE women in computer science

Tweeting Shit That Men Say

Background: Last week was GHC, it included a Male Allies panel (live streamed) and a male keynote event (available to watch online). I tweeted a lot (with others) and wrote a couple of things. The Male Allies panel was followed by a reverse “you talk we listen” event. There was also a Male Allies Focus group […]

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Presentation WISE women in computer science

Returning To The Stage…. Part 2: Speaking to Dudes About Love

There was an amazing response to my previous post, it was really gratifying to have people find it worthwhile. I wrote it, finally, for two reasons. The first was to take ownership of the experience, to not sweep it under the carpet like it was me that had done something wrong. When you allow someone […]

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Presentation

Returning To The Stage… After Harrassment

I stopped public speaking at the end of 2011. And, 6 months into 2012 I finally wrote about why. I wrote about being more intentional with my time, wanting to focus on more technical talks, and – in the vaguest terms, not really calling it what it was – about being harassed on Twitter as […]

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Programming women in computer science

My Completely Unscientific GitHub Survey

I was a software engineer without a GitHub account. I know, shocking, because everyone is supposed to have one – and actually the reason why I had to get resulted in me receiving a set of questions which assumed I would have a GitHub account, but Twitter account was optional. I didn’t have a GitHub […]

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life women in computer science

Staying Silent

TRIGGER WARNING There’s a sick cycle in the tech industry, where if a woman say someone assaulted or harassed her but doesn’t name names, she’s probably making things up. But if she does, she’s public shaming and ruining someone’s life. I don’t know what people think happens to the life of someone who’s been sexually […]

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Career life WISE women in computer science

And then, Nothing

This guy came on too strong to me, I think he thought it was passionate but I just felt uncomfortable. So I actually physically pushed him away from me. Being a Nice Bloke, he was upset that he had violated my boundaries. And so, I comforted him. This is one of those scenarios that I […]