Matt Aimonetti and the Ceremony of Political Correctness

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, at a technology conference which most software developers had never heard of, for a language which most software developers have only just heard of, a guy whose name is unimportant gave a presentation entitled CouchDB + Ruby: Perform like a pr0n star.

The presentation caused a splash, in a not-entirely-good way. Any publicity is good publicity they say, but the presenter in this case committed an unforgivable sin: he did something that made, or could have made, someone feel uncomfortable.

You see, this dastardly individual spliced 14 slides of suggestive imagery (read: scantily-clad but non-nude women) into a 79-slide Powerpoint presentation in order to get his point across: that applications built on Ruby and CouchDB "perform like porn stars". He didn't actually take a page out of Tyler Durden's book and use hardcore pornographic images. The images didn't even contain nudity, let alone porn, unless you have an extremely puritanical idea of what porn, in this day and age, actually is.

But he violated the ceremony of political correctness, just the same.

Rule of Political Correctness #4: Any person who commits a public act which could conceivably make some other person uncomfortable should be relentlessly castigated and harassed by progressive men and women until he or she repents and formally apologizes, loses his or her job, or both.

What followed was a lot of tired, angry, predictable blather from industry bloggers who should've known better. I was disappointed but not surprised to see Sarah Allen take a casual swipe at a guy who was obviously trying to spice up some rather dull technical material:

The second low point was Matt Aimonetti’s talk “CouchDB + Ruby: Perform Like a Pr0n Star.” It is unfortunate that he took this joke too far. What might have been a short, juvenille, eye-rolling bit of humor continued throughout the talk to become increasingly disturbing. Amidst this normally warm, welcoming community, I spent an uncomfortable half hour wondering if I had somehow found myself in 1975.

Cue the funky slap bass. This was on 20 April 2009. Five days later, Sarah Mei chimed in with Why Rails Is Still a Ghetto, playing off a several-months-old rant written by Ruby on Rails heavyweight Zed Shaw. (Zed's post was written prior to the CouchDB Incident, but contained enough poisonous invective against the Ruby/Rails crowd—most of which was, let's face it, probably justified—to earn him a sterling mention on TechCrunch. Zed later retracted the rant.) That same day, Audrey Eschwright took up the crusade against Evil Alpha Males in Dear Fellow Rubyists:

I struggle constantly, as a member of this female minority in Ruby and technology in general, to negotiate a representation of my sexuality that gives me a comfortable working space, but without feeling like I’ve compromised some part of my identity. I’m not female by default (because of my physical body); I have a gendered identity.

This author can only note that Newspeak phrases like "negotiate a representation of my sexuality" and "gendered identity" are at least as offensive, to some people, as the CouchDB Incident itself. However, Audrey's post performed well on Reddit—performed like a porn star, in fact—garnering almost 200 upvotes and more than 500 comments. And two days later, on 27 April 2009, Peter Szinek, perhaps smelling blood in the water, jumped on the apologist bandwagon with a bit of herdthink imaginatively titled Rails *is* (still) a Ghetto.

Why can’t you [Matt Aimonetti] just simply apologize, admitting that this [the CouchDB-porn presentation] was a bad move (because it offended some, not because porn, sexual images or whatever in presentations are bad, per se) and finish the discussion?

The day after that, Mike Gunderoy sent shockwaves through the RSS feed readers of about six separate people when he announced he'd made A Painful Decision:

For what it’s worth, I think the original presentation was an inappropriate and regrettable mistake. However, far more disturbing to me are the reactions to the discussion on the part of some of the Rails community....So, effective immediately, I’m resigning my position with the Rails Activists.

The Ruby/Rails community, not exactly famous for hand-wringing and tearful apologies, issued the following response:

Yawn. Shrug. See ya.

But help was just around the corner. That same day (28 April 2009), well-known Microsoft blogger Scott Hanselman joined the crusade, publishing Don't Give Bile a Permalink -- Finding Balance within the No Asshole Rule.

There's a lot of discussion on the Interweb right now about an individual in a technical community who used some imagery in a technical presentation at a technical conference that could be described as gender-insensitive. That's a PC way to say it. Another way to say it is that a guy used a porn metaphor and soft-core porn imagery in a technical presentation in front of a gender-mixed technical crowd.

Meanwhile, Sara "The Girl Developer" Chipps made use of a whopping-but-common double standard the following day (29 April 2009) in C'mon You Guys, We Can Do Better Than This:

I am a feminist. I support a woman's right to do and act the way she chooses to (and accept the consequences when they are due). I think that we should have the same rights engendered to a man, without question. I do not, however, disregard the difference between the sexes. We are women, you are men. That's why I say "shame on you." Shame on each and every one of you men who sat next to a woman and didn't treat her like a lady. Shame on you for letting the women who were brave enough to come to your convention sit there, and experience the discomfort of having borderline pornographic images on the screen that were intended to arouse (admit it, it wasn't there so you could all study the brilliance of the photographer and his use of light) and stimulate the audience sexually enough to keep them interested.

Society is still struggling with the idea that women are entitled to a) equal treatment while b) retaining all the little courtesies and privileges which men have customarily attached to women and which women have come to expect. So we'll set it aside, as chivalry gasps its last breath, and turn instead to the de facto summation of the entire Matt-Aimonetti-is-a-bigoted-asshole crusade, incarnated in the form of a popular comment made on Reddit in response to Peter Szinek's original post:

If you're a Rails programmer, or a Ruby programmer, and you don't decry this sort of thing, you have no business calling yourself a professional. It doesn't matter how large your website is, how easy it was to write, how much better it is over PHP or ASP.NET or J2EE; by definition, you do not belong to a professional community. That's all there is to it.

It's incumbent on every Ruby programmer to either reject this sort of misogynistic sewage, or accept that you're never going to advance the promotion of Rails in the public perception because members of the community still think it's edgy or cool to put pictures of strippers in their public presentations.

And here's a hint: if your decided reaction is to talk about how unimportant this is, how much it doesn't matter, or how much it doesn't offend you personally, you probably don't understand professionalism at all.

By this point, the argument had grown some teeth. The gloves had come off. Witness the logic whereby someone's livelihood is attacked because they communicated in a (supposedly, but not really) politically incorrect manner:

Using, approving of, or failing to condemn suggestive pictures of scantily-clad women is misogyny: outright hatred of women.
Misogynistic people are unprofessional and should be fired.
If you don't agree with me, you don't understand what it means to be professional and perhaps you should be fired.

If Matt Aimonetti had done something egregious, this would make sense. If he had stated that women are sexual objects or women make poor software developers, I could understand the anger that's been directed his way. But he didn't, and to pretend that he did is to cheapen the experience of every woman who's ever experienced actual, honest-to-goodness sexism and/or misogyny.

Take Martin Fowler's Smut On Rails rant, published 30 April 2009.

It doesn't matter whether or not you think the slides were pornographic. The question is does the presenter, and the wider community, care that women feel disturbed, uncomfortable, marginalized and a little scared.

A better question would be: does the community realize that pandering to women through faux progressivism is reprehensible and lame? That it takes more to achieve true equality of the sexes than parroting this sort of yeah-women-are-equal-but-they-need-our-surreptitious-protection-being-implicitly-weak-and-delicate-creatures sort of claptrap?

Would you respect a man who needed or demanded this sort of crutch?

No, you wouldn't. You'd think to yourself in private: this guy is a little soft. Nice guy, but a little bit of a wuss.

And is that the secret message of your progressivism?

That women are softies?

Prone to crying, and so forth?

If so: who needs sexism! Your progressivism already includes it.

You see I think Matt Aimonetti was quite simply under the impression that he was giving a presentation to a roomful of capable adults—men and women—who could presumably handle a little sexual innuendo in this day and age of nonstop Desperate Housewives episodes interspersed with Trojan condom commercials.

Apparently, he was wrong.

And it forces us to at least consider the possibility that people who are deeply offended by a presentation containing a few frames of suggestive imagery...which they didn't even attend...which occurred outside the office...might not be cut out for the relentless BS of corporate software development. Or corporate anything, for that matter.

After all, which employee would you rather hire or work with?

The well-meaning employee whose zeal for technology sometimes causes him or her to exercise questionable judgment?
The righteous employee, forever on the warpath, filing complaints with H.R. every time he or she hears an off-color joke?

I know who I'd want on my team.

I'm not saying sexism and other forms of bigotry should be swept under the rug; I'm not saying that it's okay to use non-nude pseudo-porn in a business setting; I'm saying we should be very careful when using words like sexism, misogyny, or racism, either explicitly or implicitly. These are the armor-piercing bullets of the English language. Failure to use them with care hinders, rather than helps, the cause, and is likely to foster an image of you as an angry, bitter, forever flying-off-the-handle personality; the type of person who memorizes the code of politically correct conduct but doesn't have any tolerance for your fellow human beings; nor any conception of what it means to have equanimity as an adult and a practicioner...

In short, the type of person who never gets invited to Happy Hour.

And ironically but predictably, all this vociferous complaining has had one cardinal effect, namely, lavishing the Matt Aimonetti presentation with ten or twenty times the traffic it otherwise would have gotten. You can't buy that kind of publicity. Whether you think Matt Aimonetti is a sexist prick, a merely misguided, somewhat oversexed geek, or a brilliant technical presenter, it's clear that the vociferous complaining has achieved exactly the opposite of its intended effect.

Rock the comments—like a porn star?—if you disagree.

Tags: Ruby, Rails, political correctness

73 comment(s)

[quote]If he had stated that women are sexual objects[/quote]

Is not using a sexual image of women doing exactly that?

Anonymous on Wednesday, May 13, 2009

You've obviously never been exposed to any form of bigotry yourself nothing to break through your smug shell of complacency. You don't understand that displaying these images of suggestively clothed women is a kind of terrorism against women. I don't think you'd support "terrorizing women" based on what I've read you seem to be a basically nice guy but that's exactly the kind of behavior you support when you say that it's okay for people to talk about or reference sex in public or in private.

In a better world the CouchDB presentation would be actually illegal, a form of hate-speech, and Matt Aimonetti would be in jail. He got off easy.

Anonymous on Wednesday, May 13, 2009

“Political correctness does not legislate tolerance; it only organizes hatred”

William Stradt on Wednesday, May 13, 2009

@Anonymous #2: What if he had used half naked men to get his point across? Would you be saying it's terrorism against men? I highly doubt it...

Adam Curtis on Wednesday, May 13, 2009

I am a hiring manager at a large corporation and nothing causes me more pain and angst than employees who turn every pet peeve into a formal complaint. Wait until an employee forces you and six other people to enter formal arbitration because someone told them "nice hair" or called them a "geek". We don't tolerate serious violations (sexual harassment, etc.) but more often than not, it's something silly. If an employee makes waves about stuff like this repeatedly, we actually have a "problem employee" code for them, in the database. It is like a high school around here.

Speaking Anonymously on Wednesday, May 13, 2009

[b]Some[/b] sexual innuendo would have been okay. The orgy pic- what the hell was he thinking?

Anonymous on Wednesday, May 13, 2009

[i]>Some sexual innuendo would have been okay. The orgy pic- what the hell was he thinking?[/i]

Good question. Tactically speaking, he could've gotten the audience's attention but avoided a lot of the wrath simply by choosing slightly "safer" pictures. Fine, be edgy, let the pr0n be your metaphor, but choose those pictures wisely. He should've stuck with scantily-clad software ninjas approach which has been empirically proven to offend nobody, due to the inherent awesomeness of the ninjitsu way of life.

http://www.codingthewheel.com/archives/poker-hand-evaluator-roundup

James Devlin on Wednesday, May 13, 2009

[b]In a better world the CouchDB presentation would be actually illegal, a form of hate-speech, and Matt Aimonetti would be in jail. He got off easy.[/b]

Uh...1984 called and it wants its black book of political propaganda back. You scare me.

Ring Ring on Wednesday, May 13, 2009

This whole discussion stinks. Rails is such a soap opera. So glad I do C# and C++ rather than Ruby (because C#/C++ programmers don't bitch and moan, ever, has never happened will never happen, made of tougher stuff than that, etc.)

Seriously, who except a few talking heads is actually concerned about this?

JeremyX on Wednesday, May 13, 2009

And LOL @ Ring Ring. +1.

JeremyX on Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Great article, I agree 100%.

To the second Anonymous poster above: Showing partially clothed women is not a form of terrorism. I love the female form, seeing it partially clothed makes me happy. What does it say about you that seeing a partially clothed female body terrorizes you?

Did Matt do something edgy and out of left field? Definitely. Was it in poor taste? Maybe. But keep in mind, coming to my house and trying to convince me that my soul is in danger and I need to accept Jesus into my life or else I will burn for eternity is easily as personally insulting and in poor taste. That doesn't stop people from doing it to me, even when I ask them politely not to. That doesn't mean I rant about it online, and it doesn't mean I suggest that they should be put in jail for doing it, it means I tell them that I'm not interested and close the door. Story over.

Dear Internet, please grow up. It's shit like this that convinces people like me to stay the fuck away from people like you and the Ruby community in general.

Mayor Milobar on Wednesday, May 13, 2009

"In a better world the CouchDB presentation would be actually illegal, a form of hate-speech, and Matt Aimonetti would be in jail. He got off easy."

If that's a better world, then I'll be happy to remain in this lesser world that I currently reside in.

It's obvious that there were professional repercussions for the this guy. Perhaps he will never get another speaking engagement, it might possibly impact his ability to find employment at some businesses, etc...

You can argue all day whether this is just or deserved, but it's what happens when you express yourself in ways that offend other people.

I don't even know how to respond to someone who thinks that a presentation like this should be illegal and land someone in jail. There are a few places like that around the globe, where people dictate these sorts of things in ways that you suggest. Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, take your pick.

Paul on Wednesday, May 13, 2009

@Anonymous2

I forgot who said it, and I am probably butchering the quote, but if you are willing to give up a little freedom of speech for a little extra security, you don't deserve either. Have you read "We The Living?" Does that seem like your kind of society?

Marc on Wednesday, May 13, 2009

The USA is a theocracy.

Our state religion is Progressive Idealism.

Matt Aimonetti committed blasphemy.

P on Wednesday, May 13, 2009

@Paul being from Venezuela I can say we're not like that, we would have probably laughed of off it and that'd have been that. But I see your point about dictatorial governments.

On another note, I do think that while perhaps the imagery was a bit edgy for a technical presentation it is no cause of such outrageous concern.

CamonZ on Wednesday, May 13, 2009

It was in questionable taste, but the reaction is overblown.

Oh, for another superior geek blog - using the same template as this one, almost, check this site

http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/

Terry Smith on Wednesday, May 13, 2009

@Anonymous 2. Classic !!

Anonymous on Wednesday, May 13, 2009

How can I get this guy to come and give a conference around here?

He showed some ladies in his presentation, so what? People whine about every little thing now! Anyone who felt ofended by the pics could have just left the room.

Joaquin on Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Remember the "I'm telling" girl? You say the wrong word, she's telling. You pull a prank, she's telling. Well now she's grown up but she's just as vigilant as ever, always on the lookout for infractions. She used to tell to parents & teachers, now she tells to personnel departments & the government.

Sam_Spade on Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Give me a break! Some people just need to get laid.

Gary on Wednesday, May 13, 2009

PWND!

Anonymous on Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Amen! It is so good to occasionally come across rational folks with the capacity for reflection and evaluating different viewpoints. Thank you for this post, I could not agree more.

Anonymous on Thursday, May 14, 2009

Ok, first off i second what Mayor Milobar said above, couldn't have said it better myself.

Second, i loved the presentation, i thought that the way he threw in the sexual inuendo's were witty and clever. I didn't mind at all the Pictures he used. As it as been said many times before, people need to just freakin grow up. I dont see why anyone should be offended by those pictures, Your not the ones in them. In a room full of adults, everyone knows what the female body looks like... who cares! If any women got offended by this, then she does not truly want equality. She wants to be treated like, and work like, a lady, but paid like a man. I think not! In my opinion, gender doesn't matter, and a female SHOULD get paid as much as a man provided she is doing the same work. And if she is doing the same work, she better expect to get treated like everyone else.

I guess i'm straying a little from the topic here, so i'll try to re-align myself:

I think that in todays scociety, we have grown beyond such imaturity as to call harasment just because we saw a picture of a girl in a bikini. I mean, we live in it constantly. You turn on the tv and it's in every comercial, every program, hell, even the news. You go outside and see women walking down the street in as little as was in those photo's. The simple fact is that most of us are adult enough to accept this. But some aren't (Like the people who started this whole complaint). And when the complaint was started, people who weren't there and who were not involved, made it their business to be offended by it...Childish and Stupid.

P.S. Those that complained should all be incredibly gratefull that they live in a country where those kind of pictures can even exist. :)

the_last_dragoon on Thursday, May 14, 2009

agree 110%

david on Thursday, May 14, 2009

James, I don't agree.

First, if Matt Aimonetti wanted to treat his audience like adults, he wouldn't need to use the porn imagery to make a point. He spoke to a technical audience, most of whom probably chose to be there because of the technical content of his talk.

Second, it's not just about women. Gratuitous sexual references have a high likelihood of making people uncomfortable regardless of gender. I totally appreciate (and agree with) your point about people being overly concerned with their sensibilities. But in this context that point is completely irrelevant. The point here is about treating people in your audience with respect. His talk fails that for the males in the audience as well as the females.

Do I demand this standard of treatment towards myself? No. Do I think less of people who don't hold themselves to this standard in their treatment of others? Yes.

Anonymous on Thursday, May 14, 2009

Amazing this is driving more comments (and probably viewers) than the poker series. Back to the subject, pleaseeeeeee

D on Thursday, May 14, 2009

Anyone who spends their whole life trying to make sure that they never offend anyone or make them feel uncomfortable, and especially those who also go out of their way to try to make sure that no one else does either, are going to: a) fail miserably, and b) make themselves and the people around them miserable.

This guy tried to inject a little life into what could have been a horribly dry technical presentation. Maybe it wasn't the most appropriate way to do it, but no one got killed, permanently crippled, or even mildly injured by this. He certainly doesn't deserve to be vilified and ostracized for it. The ones who do deserve it are the ones who are horribly overreacting to a mild faux pas. Fun is fun, no one got hurt by the original presentation, and in fact the only hurting I see is in the responses to it.

And to anyone who wants to respond to this with, "You wouldn't be saying that if you were the one he offended," I say that no, I don't like being offended but (and this is the key part) I get over it and get on with my life. Unless someone is deliberately going out of their way to repeatedly offend people, I refuse to hold a grudge. I'll leave it to you to decide which if any side of this debate is doing that.

Anonymous on Thursday, May 14, 2009

It's an interesting debate. I get really annoyed with the double standard that many 'feminists' propogate i.e. they want equality but still expect you to open the door for them and be all nicey nicey...

I think Matt tried an interesting approach (as you stated) to take some rather dull technical material and make it interesting, I know I would have rather sat in on that presentation than some of the Sahara episodes that I have paid to attend. But yes, maybe he should have exercised a little bit more 'intelligent thought' in regard to his picture choice.

With all the war, death, starving children, decapitation of the rain forest do we have to spend hours debating how one of our colleagues needs to be hung drawn and quartered over a few 'racy' pictures. Couldn't we just say 'Matt, interesting idea, next time leave out the orgy pic and we are good to go...' And again, why are we or anybody getting truly offended by this, have you not watched TV, been to the cinema, picked up a magazine, all of which are filled with pictures of scantily clad individuals because we all know sex sells.

This is another point already made, maybe one of the female technologists could do a presentation on their specialty and fill it full of pictures of naked men. I really want to read about the reactions that that causes because my feeling is that we (the men) would just find it funny.

Ron on Thursday, May 14, 2009

Whatever happened to just being able to say "Hey, that was in poor taste...think before you present next time." And then let the subject go away?

People forget that the right to free speech implies that you will be offended occasionally. Bottom line, there is no right to not be offended in this country...grow up and grow a slightly thicker skin. Trust me, you'll be more popular at parties.

Keynes on Thursday, May 14, 2009

Quite funny actually!! Perform like a porn star, maybe Peter North? I would squirt a verbal shot right in any moral panic disordered prude. Why can't you have some sense of humor?

Boris on Thursday, May 14, 2009

Oh no, a presenter did something off-color in an attempt to make a presentation fun and offended people! BURN HIM!

Come on people, don't we have real forms of hatred and bigotry to talk about? This is just a group of holier than thou assclowns who feel that anything they disagree with doesn't belong anywhere around them. Don't like it? Don't watch it. Don't like him? Don't involve yourself with him.

Cody Brocious on Thursday, May 14, 2009

Cody, you couldn't have made the opposing point any better. I'm sure those who didn't like it thought a technical presentation at a computer programming conference would be pretty safe from that type of thing. Unfortunately that piece of conventional wisdom was wrong. That's precisely the reason it was inappropriate.

Anonymous on Thursday, May 14, 2009

You're telling me they couldn't have walked out of the room after seeing the very first slide? Come now.

Cody Brocious on Friday, May 15, 2009

Warning, off topic: James I was wondering if your programming services are available for hire? I've been unable to find your e-mail anywhere on the site, so I thought I'd just post here. I have included my e-mail and I'd really appreciate it if you could get in touch.

Anonymous CTW Fan on Friday, May 15, 2009

Very level headed and sensible response there, James. I feel exactly the same way as you. People are so self-righteous nowadays. They get a kick out of jumping down the throat of any half-indecent uttering just so they can get some air time with a rediculous rant.

Nice article.

Poker Forum on Saturday, May 16, 2009

Issue definitely blown out of proportion. I do see how a woman could easily feel very uncomfortable with a presentation like that in a room full of men though, don't think it's "sissy" of a woman to not feel ok with it. And I see how many people don't get that, and how we're all "adults" and it should just be ok. Thing is, not everyone agrees with that, and I don't think it's overly sensitive to take account of that. So am I a "softy" guy for thinking that then?

In any case, I thought everyone forgot about that particular presentation long ago, and went on to discussing the issue of how differently people have reacted to it and what really is appropriate or not for a presentation in a conference like that.

ehsanul on Saturday, May 16, 2009

[quote]And here's a hint: if your decided reaction is to talk about how unimportant this is, how much it doesn't matter, or how much it doesn't offend you personally, you probably don't understand professionalism at all.[/quote] Thanks for making such points crystal clear. That's why I love your blog.

Alex on Monday, May 18, 2009

The way I see it....

This guy was just thinking outside the box. Good publicity is polarizing people. I admire this guy and this is certainly out of the box thinking.

There is a lot of inertia in society for new ideas, new ways of presenting things, etc.. Most people have conditioned responses to things. In this case they think this is sexist/disrespectful.

I think he made his case elegantly.

Doyles Room on Tuesday, May 19, 2009

+1 for blown way out of proportion. Sad to see that some people can't take a joke

Anonymous on Tuesday, May 19, 2009

I hope everyone who were sad enough to feel ofended by it dies. after beeing horribly tortured

gtype on Saturday, May 23, 2009

according to anonymous #2, allowing "... people to talk about or reference sex in public or in private." is "supporting 'terrorising women'"!. that was a real post, go up and look. possibly the most ridiculous, repressive statement i have ever heard...i mean really read it- TALK or REFRENCE sex, in public OR PRIVATE!?! ludicrous! and ANY PERSON? So a woman discussing with another woman, sex she had with her husband, is "terrorising women"? idiotic. also do i even need to point out that this poster's definition of "hate speech" would encompass virtually every single beer ad, jeans ad, and cologne ad ever made.

Anonymous on Saturday, May 23, 2009

most likely anony #2 would be very comfortable living in Saudi Arabia or Iran, where publicly discussing sex in any way is taboo. however, even in these places, discussing sex in private is allowed, so maybe anony #2 would prefer an even MORE repressive environment. unfortunatley, no such place exists.

"...displaying these images of suggestively clothed women is a kind of terrorism against women"

laughable!

"...I don't think you'd support "terrorizing women" based on what I've read you seem to be a basically nice guy but that's exactly the kind of behavior you support when you say that it's okay for people to talk about or reference sex in public or in private. In a better world the CouchDB presentation would be actually illegal, a form of hate-speech, and Matt Aimonetti would be in jail. He got off easy."

so a "suggestive" picture of a woman is "terrorizing women"?!? luckily calling someone an effing moron isnt in any way sexual, so thats still inbounds.

as for the (idiotic) hate-speech point, i personally think that accusing someone of terrorism is just as bad, if not worse, then whatever "hate speech" anony #2 is talking about. so yes, in a "better" (read: worse) world, Matt Aimonetti would be in jail, and so would YOU for accusing "terrorist!"

Anonymous on Saturday, May 23, 2009

BTW, one ironic thing is that some of those protesting this would go on to call Rails "a ghetto". So in other words, those who claim that MA was insensitive to GENDER, then went on to repeatedly use a RACIALLY insensitive term ("ghetto"). yes, this is not exactly a racial slur, but aged jews and african-americans surely must feel that using this term in this context is flippant and insensitive. you see how ridiculous this can get?? it is simply not possible to bowdlerize everything (try watching network TV sometime)

Anonymous on Saturday, May 23, 2009

Lol... I agree that this is being blown out of proportion, it's just people finding the next scape goat.

Carbon Poker on Sunday, May 24, 2009

I still don't understand the analogy of performing like a porn star, I can't believe someone actually wants that.

You start at the filthy, seedy bottom of the trade and have to work your way up, and god knows what you'll have to stick your genitals in. You aren't selected for your brains, but rather for what's between your legs. You've got a great chance to catch a disease, and if you do so, you'll get blacklisted. As Boogie Nights showed, there's a good chance you need various substances to actually keep performing like that, instead of doing so naturally.

That doesn't sound like Rails. It sounds like debugging VB4 apps written 10 years ago by a self-taught coder on a 14" CRT monitor with a bad case of flickering powered by a Pentium-1 166 using vi over a 9600 baud connection in a cramped office. Only after a few years, you'll get something better.

Rob on Monday, May 25, 2009

Well yeah, if he said women were poor software developers, it would have caused an outrage ;-)

Remember when the Harvard professor wrote about women being not as intellectual apt as men because of brain anatomy differences.... that was classic.

Ilari Sahamies on Tuesday, May 26, 2009

^^^^^ what he actually said (and btw it was larry summers, currently with the Obama admn.) was that men seem to tend towards the extreme ends of the bell curve, while women seem to tend towards the middle. in other words, he said men tend to deviate further from the average, above it and below it. he was dean of harvard, and he went on to point out that since they dont accept the folks who are below average, they just see the extreme right of the bell curve, where men outnumber women.

Anonymous on Tuesday, May 26, 2009

So I guess my biggest criticism of the speech is the that it relied on a dumb gimic to get peoples interest. If the only way the rails community can spice up its tech talks to fellow techies is to yell profanity or show a bunch of porn, thats a pretty sad statement of the tech itself. The idea should be interesting on its own right (and CouchDB is!). Adding in a few slides to add emotional content is fine, but I dont think every tech talk should be an Eminem raise to the bottom, because it detracts -from the technology-.

And of course the misogynistic nature of the talk. The reason why a community discourages discussion that makes members uncomfortable is to keep the community together. If you want to build something, you need a lot of talented people, and there are plenty of talented women out there. Do you want them patching bugs, adding features, etc? Or do you want them working with the next framework that treats them with a modicum of respect?

You dont care? Ok, keep pushing people away, and watch the community that has taken 5 years to build disappear along with your meal ticket.

anon on Wednesday, May 27, 2009

I don't care.

Look I have been to many places where there were shitloads of women. I have observed that these settings are never ever politically correct.

I saw one guy tell a girl that her breasts were like bongo drums and he wanted to play them (this was at an advertising party). Finance, marketing, advertising you'll find extremely crude and extremely sexual comments. Nobody fucking cares. And half the participants are women.

The problem with Rails is not the sexism ... its the prudish, intellectualist, feminist women that you attract. Rails is a ghetto and as a result you attract the most humourless, inane and self-important weird women who have probably never been in a club, never gotten high and never have never grown the fuck up. You need to attract a better class of women!

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