[Linux-aus] An Open Letter to the Open Source Community

[Glen Turner]

On Wed, 2007-05-23 at 11:27 +0800, Bret Busby wrote:

> If that is all there is to it, then there doesn't seem to be any 
> significant problem, that is specific to Linux, to open source, or to 
> computing, and, if the "problem" is not limited to Linux or the Linux 
> community, then is is not appropriate for this list, unless 
> misogynistic actions have been taken, or misogynistic comments have 
> been made, on this list.

Ah, where to start.  Perhaps with the display of demeaning images
in a presentation at an event sponsored by Linux Australia. Perhaps
with Stallman rubbing his crotch at a public lecture at the University
of Adelaide. Perhaps with sexist and rude comments towards my 17
year old daughter helping out at an InstallFest.

And that's picking out the merely totally outrageous. Not even
considering the day-to-day behaviours that might turn off participation
in Linux by women. And top of that list is e-mail behaviour,
on lists like this one.

A recent example: a women posts an open letter asking for a
better standard of behaviour, as she feels that some current
behaviours are repulsive to women and do not advance the cause
of Linux.  And rather than reflecting upon this, people argue
the point, neatly illustrating the hostile-to-women behaviour.
Hmmm.

Or go to Slashdot, home base for a certain culture of Linux
fandom. Go to the archive and pull any article about a woman.
Lots of considered comments there, huh?  And, worst of all,
the site administrators see nothing wrong with this: they
choose not to censor the sexist postings. That is, Slashdot
and their OSTG owners have institutionalised sexism.

Let's be blunt. The participation of women in computing courses
at university was 50% in 1985. It is now less than 10%. So in
our lifetime we have done something to move a relatively equal
field into one exhibiting a sex imbalance to the extent that
the government is considering de-funding the worst faculties.

> The message above seems to say "If we are females in computing, don't 
> treat us as humans - don't ask us out on dates, don't joke with us, 
> don't talk to us".

Bret, try a simple experiment. On the Internet no one knows you
are a dog. So join a mailing list like Linux Kernel as a woman.
Drop in a patch. Now wait. Hay, offers of a date -- from people
who have never met me! That's *not* treating people as human.

I know people who's employers let them post from non-corporate
accounts because the firstname.lastname at company.com address
results in too many offers of dates, sex and rape.

> Next, we will be getting "don't hire a computer person, unless the 
> person is female, until at least 35% of all computing people are 
> female".

That's taking Melissa's posting well beyond her simple request.

Personally though, unless we reform our own ways, we will have
quotas imposed in areas the government controls. And since it
was only 30 years ago that computing was a 50:50 field, we will
have deserved them.

> If the list is going to become a feminist "all men are evil" forum, 
> without any substance, then it has digressed from its purpose, and has 
> become the tool of an unrepresentative part of the Linux community in 
> Australia.

Again, taking Melissa's posting well beyond her simple request.

> In the proposed restructuring of Linux Australia, does this mean that it 
> will have a "womens interest group" (but not a "men's interest group"), 
> and a "womens representative", "but not a "men's representative", on the 
> "governing council", and become an instrument for feminists, or, will 
> Linux Australiabe an organisation, the policies and objectives of which, 
> relate to Linux and the Linux community, in TOTAL, in Australia?

Again, taking Melissa's posting well beyond her simple request.

Linux Australia is not a feminist stronghold. It should be working
to end the rampant sexism and less-obvious discrimination in the
Linux community (and computing more widely) because that is one of
the things that threatens Linux's success or failure as a everyday
technology.

Regards, Glen