They say that all *good* things come in threes, so I suppose here is our third reason why it's so hard for women in tech, courtesy of the folks at The Underwire, Wired's pop culture blog.
If this were some random blog that was looking for a bit of traffic and some link bait, I wouldn't care so much. There are a ridiculous amount of stupid blogs out there, and if I tried to write an angry blog post about whatever sexist crap they were spewing on any given day, I would give myself a heart attack.
However, this is Wired we're talking about here. WIRED. A magazine and publication that I highly respect. (Even despite that whole Julia Allison thing.)
And yet, here they are, sexualizing and objectifying "geeky" women in tech with their "Vote for the Sexiest Geeks of 2008" poll.
The truly great part, is that a lot of these women aren't actually geeky or have anything to do with technology, they just have tits.
Like "This Girl"...
If you for some reason can't read the description of the scantily clad girl with glasses, allow me. It says:
"I don't' know her name or what she does or even if her legs extend beyond her knees. But just look at her."
Geek of the year! I mean, just look at her!
This past weekend, the wise NWJersyLIz on Twitter made the following tweet, which I found very wise. She said,
"I don't think just bc you use technology (Twitter, blog, podcast), love gadgets or have an iPhone, it makes you a geek.
You need some skills"
Word to that, sister!
So, dear Underwired, having people like Scarlett Johansson and Rosario Dawson and people who have played a geek in a movie, or own a comic book or have a DS Lite or play WiiFit on the weekends sometimes if they're not too busy does not make them a geek, mmkay?
Your criteria for making it onto the Geek List is complete bullshit.
Seriously? Morena Baccarin? Summer Glau? Why not just vote on attractive women that you like to have sexual fantasies about who happen to also be in Sci-Fi movies or shows instead of trying to include actual geeks?
Also, thanks for supporting your fellow women in tech, and for alienating the huge amount of women online that subscribe to your magazine and read your blogs online.
Can we not move beyond this fascination with women who are, like, pretty and smart and stuff?
Folks at the Underwire, if you don't get why this is so irritating, let me break it down for you.
1. It encourages belief in the stereotype that women cannot be both pretty and smart.
2. It encourages belief in the stereotype that men cannot be both pretty and smart.
3. It further promotes and ignites the sexualization and objectification of women in male dominated industries, specifically women in technology, and just women in general.
4. It puts even more unnecessary emphasis on people's looks and how sexy they are by rewarding people who are not only geeky, but the sexiest geeks. This, in turn, then further promotes the stereotype that you can only be truly successful or loved if you're super sexy or super attractive - especially for women.
So, a big, happy fucking Christmas to the folks at Wired and The Underwire! Thanks for all the support!
Big thanks to @girlonetrack and @jemimakiss for the heads up!