Sexism in the technology industry: the website that says it all
You know when you’re looking for information about a new gadget or technology trend, but you just can’t concentrate without a pair of breasts to leer at while you do your research? Well, panic no more, because a new website, Hot Tech Today has solved all your problems. Yes, the self-described “Tech blog meets Maxim magazine” has hit on what it seems to think is the innovative idea of combining technology news with naked women … ta daa! And unfortunately, so far, it hasn’t been revealed to be an elaborate spoof.
The site’s video promo for its upcoming April issue is the easiest way to get a feel for the digital magazine; a bikini-clad model perched on a sofa awkwardly recites a few tech-related snippets before going on to pose for photographs. And just in case you hadn’t yet worked out where Hot Tech Today thinks women belong, there’s a helpful section showing her dressed as a maid, complete with feather duster. There’s even a laptop in the shot with her at one point, but the closest she gets to the keyboard is dusting it daintily in her bra.
In case you’re worrying that such a blatantly misogynistic approach might be somewhat alienating for women working in an already male-dominated field, fear not! There’s something for the ladies too! Female fans are lucky enough to have the opportunity to send in pictures of themselves to grace the magazine’s centrefold … after they have been voted on by the (implicitly) male readers first, obviously.
So everyone’s a winner! (Except, of course, the women working hard to be taken seriously in an industry where they already receive vastly fewer opportunities, lower wages and less respect than their male counterparts. Oh, and the droves of perfectly respectful tech-consuming men who don’t happen to be total douchebags. And the whole industry, really, which comes off as excruciatingly outdated and sexist from the whole affair, just when many people within it are working hard to counter this reputation.)
And in case you think there’s really no issue with promoting tech as an exclusively male interest, with women strewn about the place like decorative baubles, because it’s really all just a bit of fun … In case you think these misogynistic portrayals of tech as a men’s realm, where women only exist to titillate and entertain, don’t have any real impact on people’s day-to-day lives … here are some of the stories sent in to theEveryday Sexism Project by women battling those stereotypes every day in their careers. Try telling them it’s all just a bit of harmless fun …
“‘Hi, I’m the senior computer tech here, looking at the motherboard.’ ‘You opened the computer? What a clever girl!'”
“At a networking event, representing my company (me being a certified and pretty awesome technical resource for the company), a guy from one of the biggest prospective customers said he was responsible for deciding if they chose my company or not. He asked what could we offer him in THAT tone that makes you feel uncomfortable … Ignoring his tone, I started talking about the company, he then interrupted me, got closer and said: ‘You don’t get it, we are one of the biggest companies here and I am asking what are YOU offering me?'”
“I am an IT professional and have been told I am too pretty to be a programmer, while being patted on the head like a puppy.”
“I once worked as an outside IT consultant … Despite the fact that I had, on average, five years more experience and two years more education than any of the men on the team, took only the challenging service calls and those that involved cleaning up messes made by some of the more junior men on the team, and consistently outperformed everyone else on the team by every measure, I was paid $2 less per hour than even the entry-level guys. Management rationalised this to me (and themselves) by claiming that it was simply ‘risky’ to hire women in IT.
“The manager, however, let me know my true worth every day that I came in to file reports. He’d instantly jump in with a back massage the moment he saw me in a chair, constantly told me how he’d love to date me, and even once directly propositioned me while I was actively working on a computer at the repair bench, in the front of the store. I nearly fell out of my chair laughing before I realised he was dead serious.”
“I’d routinely show up at customer locations to be greeted with anything from mild scepticism to overt doubt from men and women alike. ‘I didn’t know women could fix computers!’ was a greeting I expected to hear on at least 30% of my service calls. I had the pleasure of responding: ‘This is just an easy part-time student job I have while I’m finishing my degree in high energy physics and distributed computing.'”
(Source: The Guardian)
