I pit the sexist organization in which I work that will take the entire package of ideas I generate to be brilliant when a white male coworker presents it as his own, vs ignore it entirely when it comes from me.
Share your rant against sexism, please. I need co-commiserators (I know, that’s not a word).
I’d gladly join your crusade but I’m male, and white, and middle class. I hope this thread develops because I allways learn the most (generally speaking) when I hear other people describe their own experience.
I was going to dismiss this thread, but I guess it must be worth something if a white male likes it. 
I’m a white male, and I’ve seen plenty of sexism in action. I was once asked by management to accept a promotion I didn’t want; I turned it down, and the manager sputtered that I was “different from” the other candidates and “obviously had the necessary qualifications.” The other candidates wanted the job and some of them worked harder than I did…but they were all female.
I pit the douche who mansplained to me how to write up a logic update for our software.
I’ve been doing this stuff for a decade. My ladybrain can handle this just fine.
I’ve been an electronic technician for over thirty years, and I’ve always wished there were more female techs. I have been fortunate in not having people give me as much shit as some women get, mostly because I have a high I.Q. And a thick skin, and I won’t put up with much.
I have on occasion felt that if I were a foot taller and my voice an octave or two lower it would be easier to get people to listen, but now most of the people I work with treat me with respect because I’ve proven I know what I’m doing. When I was younger it was a lot harder, and I had a real problem with impostor syndrome till I realized I was actually better at troubleshooting than a lot of the guys, especially the ones who thought they were better than me just because of their Y chromosomes.
What’s wrong with sexy?
I actually find that the higher IQ a woman has, the more threatening she is deemed and hence the more shit she gets. Especially in a tech field.
I have one more. We had a woman director that was driven out because most of the guys could not handle having a female authority. When it was time to select the next director, one of these guys said, to my face, “I don’t want another woman.”
Jesus. How do you live with yourself?
Not my experience. I am a programmer, and I freelanced for more than a decade, six months here, nine months there, mostly in 1990s, some in 2000s. So I saw a lot of companies’ IT departments. Yes, women programmers were rare (I would say one in 10) but I think they were appreciated, and, if they were talented, were treated better than men. Because talented men programmers are a dime a dozen.
Are you saying that of the people in the field, a lower percentage of the women was talented vs of the men?
When the work I present does not get accepted, I think it’s because;
A) Maybe the idea just isn’t as good I thought
B) Maybe I didn’t present it the best way
C) Maybe the person I presented to is hoping for a slightly different type of solution
D) Maybe I need to refine the idea more
Guess it would be great to be able to have another option:
E) I have tits and a vagina
Now, I’m sure there are some sexist assholes out there. But I think there are quite few of them. And more important, the best way to handle it is to assume that the reason is NOT sexism. Just come back with another , better idea. And another one after that.In the meantime, if you think your boss is one of those actual sexist assholes, be looking for another job.
That’s one way to parse it, but another way that is supported by what he posted is: “the majority of the programmers were men. Talented programmers of either sex are rare. Therefore, most of the talented programmers were men. Therefore, the talented programmer who was also female was a rarity and attracted an extra share of positive attention”, and that doesn’t imply anything about which gender is more likely to throw up talented individuals - only that most talented programmers are men and therefore one talented man the more or less is unremarkable.
Don’t worry your pretty little head about it, dear. Shouldn’t you be talking about kittens?
No.
If women programmers are one in ten, and talented programmers in general are one in five (I’d say that’s about right), then talented women programmers would be one in fifty. Since it is a fairly rare IT department that has fifty programmers, talented women programmers are rare birds. Or were - back then. Maybe the proportion of women programmers in IT departments is higher now - I haven’t worked in corporate environments for a few years.
In any case, as I said, if anything, I have seen that women progs were more appreciated than men - for their rarity if anything.
Love it.
But they said that talented men are “a dime a dozen”, which does not imply “rare” to me.
Nope.