Tech workers reject consumption coded feminine as superficial

Evidence

The informant implies that Waldman’s success is unwarranted because she does not have the “track record” for it. While he admits she is doing a “great job,” he undermines this statement by suggesting she isn’t qualified. Similarly, another informant said about Tara Hunt: “It’s very high school or college. It’s like the sorority sisters, the great girls at school, that cadre of people who definitely were not the nerds, who were not the geeks … you know, the beautiful people. And so there’s that, but it’s paper-thin. No offense, I like Tara and she’s a nice person, but if you sit down and actually talk to her, it’s like two inches and a mile wide. There’s no depth.” After disclaiming that he means “no offense,” this informant places Hunt in the category of the “beautiful people,” stating that she is pretty, but has no intellectual depth. … These quotes are troubling because they suggest the systematic gender discrimination that women in the scene must endure on their way to achieving success, discrimination that stems from the perception that they are less qualified than their male peers. As the former dean of MIT concluded after a lengthy study of gender discrimination and the status of women faculty members, “Once and for all we must recognize that the heart and soul of discrimination, the last refuge of the bigot, is to say that those who are discriminated against deserve it because they are less good.” — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 707 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Tech women’s success is dismissed as appearance-driven rather than earned — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 707; Tech workers justify consumption only as self-improvement or work — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 193

Related

• Tech women’s success is dismissed as appearance-driven rather than earned (similarity 0.92)
• Lack of women in tech reflects bias, not a pipeline shortfall (similarity 0.80)
• Tech workers justify consumption only as self-improvement or work (similarity 0.79)
• Women’s online self-presentation is judged more harshly than men’s in tech culture (similarity 0.79)
• Women’s tech accomplishments were routinely attributed to sexual relationships with men (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Tech women’s success is dismissed as appearance-driven rather than earned #exemplifies (0.85) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 707