Sexism in the PHP Community

Sexism in the PHP Community(caseysoftware.com)

4 points by tswicegood 13 years ago | 10 comments

marssaxman 13 years ago |

The typeface is blatantly offensive, but it took me a while to see what was supposed to be sexist about the shirt. You have to read it out loud to get it: the last two syllables of "PHP-ness" are supposed to be pronounced like the word "penis". So it's not just an ugly shirt, but an ugly shirt which associates an ugly language with ugly ripoff-marketing spam email.

BHershewitz 13 years ago |

It took me a really long time to understand why that shirt (apart from simply being ugly) would be considered offensive to women. I think the author of this article should engage in some introspective self-criticism and try to pinpoint the psychological factors that cause her to get so upset at trivial externalities that dont completely synch with her worldview.

Mz 13 years ago | |

As best I can determine, the author's name is D. Keith Casey Jr. I strongly suspect the author is male.

Mz 13 years ago |

I never quite know what to think of posts like this. They usually strike me as really missing the mark, which I hesitate to say in part because I know that "not pc language" (for lack of a better term) can be a serious issue. But I really think these kinds of posts don't help women. I suspect they probably hurt women in tech, but I am not quite sure how to express my reasons for feeling that way.

dmschulman 13 years ago | |

I feel similarly and find it hard to express why it makes me think that way.

I actually thought about writing something more to this effect, but I don't want to come off as critical. The short version of my thoughts though boils down to the idea that a negative stereotype of Feminism is re-enforced by this whole episode, and while people have the right to voice their criticisms about something, using the guise of Feminism to lob the critique doesn't promote what Feminism is actually concerned with.

Mz 13 years ago | | |

I am a woman. I was one of the top three students of my graduating high school class. I turned down a National Merit Scholarship. I thought I would have a career and family, etc. I ended up a homemaker for two decades. I have read a helluva lot about feminism and all that over the years and thought long and hard about what went wrong with my life. I woke up this morning super cranky about feeling like I still need to choose between having a brain and a sexuality, between having a man and a fulfilling life. I strongly suspect that most men are uncomfortable with so called "feminism" because they fear that if women get lives of their own, no man (or they personally) will ever get laid again. Stupid, stipid, stupid. I have read at least one article by a man who was involved with a feminist. He and the other men would wind up in the kitchen, feeling bad about being male.

Besides, the t-shirt is a play on words for getting your penis enhanced. I have never met a man who wants to proudly display on his chest the announcement that his dick is too small and needs enhancing. It looks to me like the stupidest possible play on words they could have chosen for a male dominated field. It will no doubt die of its own stupidity, winning a Darwin award, without anyone needing to criticize it as "sexist". Having a sexuality is not "sexist". The sooner the shrieky so called pro feminists figure that out, the sooner we can work on real issues and stop freaking out about the normal, routine fact that "sex sells", thus sexual references are incredibly common. The real way to promote gender parity (which I am for, even though I role my eyes at "female equality") is to promote the idea that women are also entitled to enjoy sex and stop implying that if a man likes sex, he clearly is a disrespectful pig who should burn in hell.

Anyway, I have an errand to run. Which is for the best because I was grumpy about this topic before this piece was posted.

Later.

Bryan22 13 years ago | |

Maybe the shirt isn't 'PC' but it's also just an ugly shirt. No need to throw a temper tantrum about someones terrible taste in apparel. Just seems petty to me to decline sharing your knowledge with people because you are easily offended. I don't think it's a detriment to women as a whole, but certainly to an individual who is willing to opt out of educational events because of a shirt. Imagine if every woman adopted this attitude, the end result would be less women at these sorts of events. I don't see that helping anyone's cause.

Mz 13 years ago | | |

I know why some people interpret such things as detrimental to women. But I am reasonably sure there is no point in commenting further today on that angle.

dmschulman 13 years ago |

Were there other tee shirts on sale at the conference or was this the sole piece merch?