discuss: Review needed of 'Encourage Women in Linux' HOWTO
Subject:
Re: Review needed of 'Encourage Women in Linux' HOWTO
From:
"Rodolfo J. Paiz" ####@####.####
Date:
8 Dec 2003 04:16:06 -0000
Message-Id: <6.0.1.1.0.20031207220904.023fee08@mail.simpaticus.com>
At 18:03 12/7/2003, Val Henson wrote:
>Please reread HOWTO Encourage Women in Linux then. The entire
>document exists because these "thick-skulled" people are commonplace
>in the Linux community (and elsewhere).
I thank God that most of my experience differs from yours, Val. Most of the
people I know, whether in the Linux community or elsewhere, do _not_
exhibit this kind of behavior towards women or any other group, be that
group determined racially, physically, or in any other way. As mentioned
before, I have certainly met my share of idiots, morons, and the
socially-challenged, but I _am_ convinced that the existence of N male
idiots in society justifies the generalization of _all_ males in any way.
Unfortunately, my reading is that your HOWTO does generalize that way and I
believe that this reduces substantially the effectiveness of the perfectly
valid message you wish to communicate. By generalizing, you alienate a good
chunk of the audience you purport to reach, and you also help to perpetuate
the perception among women that lots if not most men have some or all of
these antediluvian behaviors. This is NOT good.
>The HOWTO is not theoretical,
>it is a compendium of real-life experiences at LUGs, on mailing lists,
>on IRC, at conferences, at work, and at home.
I am sure that this is true. And I believe that the message you want to
communicate is a valid one and a worthy one. What I am saying is that the
generalizations and the _way_ you deliver the message is far less effective
than it could be. Generalizing is never good, since it invariably lumps the
bad with the good, throws the baby out with the bath water, punishes the
innocent for the sins of the guilty... pick your cliché from any culture,
society, or religion in the history of humankind. Lumping people together
is not going to achieve what you thought it would.
--
Rodolfo J. Paiz
####@####.####
