It’s not about right or wrong, it’s about how a dude felt like he could tell a group of women that they were criticizing sexism in the wrong way. It doesn’t matter if it was cold yesterday, knowledgeable people are telling you the climate is getting warmer. It doesn’t matter if one is particularly persuaded that the Github incident was or was not specifically all and exclusively about sexism, there are knowledgeable people telling you that sexism in the Tech industry is a problem and please could we stop. If you agree with the soul of the argument, what’s the virtue in arguing the semantics of it?
Thinking that you have the authority to tell someone else how to make their argument is the kind of condescending patronization that is PART OF sexism – dudes constantly imagine they know better than women, even on topics of women’s inequality. And arguing that these issues are not “really” sexism feeds into a narrative of reactionary, hysterical women who can’t be trusted with facts and rational, logical men who need to correct their over-reaction.
So far from being side-tracked, I think the convo is AVOIDING getting side-tracked into little avenues of “Is X or Y really sexist?” by focusing on the fact that asking that question is missing the point. The manifesto isn’t ABOUT Github, it’s ABOUT sexism. If you respect these women, and accept what they say as knowledgeable (even if you quibble with some specifics), what are you going to DO about it?
