I’m going back to find some piece of mind (BlogHer Day 2)
More than once this weekend, Megan and I have both said that if we weren’t speaking at this conference, we would not be here. This doesn’t mean I think it’s a bad conference, it just might not be the best conference for me. This was highlighted this morning in a panel called “Get Deeply Geeky,” which ended up being a lot about empowering women, where I was hoping it would be more about geeky stuff—tech, development, blogs about these things, and women in these fields blogging about them.
It’s funny, but I’m reminded every so often (especially at this conference) that I’m not a very good woman. I don’t know how else to put it, but I say that to encompass my almost zero interest in most women’s issues and female activism and empowerment. Now, I think women deserve to vote and can have careers and can do whatever they want to. However, I hate the male-bashing and whining about it being a male world that so often dominates feminist conversations (but, as a caveat, not all conversations). For example, one of the take away points from the session was to hire women or help other women get hired, etc. Are you kidding me?! Hiring someone because they’re a woman is just as bad as hiring someone because they are a man. There seems to be a little bit of a double standard going on there.
I wonder, though, if I’ve just been ridiculously sheltered. No one of any importance in my life ever made me feel like I couldn’t do something because I’m a girl. No one ever asked me if my boyfriend did my homework for me (that was an experience shared in the session). Most of the men I’ve encountered think it’s really cool (sometimes almost creepily) that I’m into computers and technology.
I’m not saying the gender bias doesn’t happen, or that it hasn’t happened to me. When I worked at Best Buy, fairly regularly I wasn’t taken seriously because I am a girl. But besides using it as an example, I don’t whine about it, and I mostly see it as humorous. If those people have that kind of hang up, they have more problems than who is trying to help them buy a computer.
Mostly, I just identify with/want to be treated like a person, not a woman or a man or a space alien.
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