Reading list
Shortform reading
This is an incomplete list of the shortform reading (and listening and watching) I’ve been doing lately.
Where do these gendered presumptions even come from, and how pervasive are they? Is it common to assume that a frog is a “he?” What about a bear, or a bird, or a cat, or a pig?
I wanted to know: Which animals do we gender, and why?
Girls Who Code founder speaks out after school district bans her books
"This is an opportunity to realize how big this movement is against our kids and how much we need to fight," Reshma Saujani told Insider.
A Move for 'Algorithmic Reparation' Calls for Racial Justice in AI
Researchers are encouraging those who work in AI to explicitly consider racism, gender, and other structural inequalities.
Tailwind and the Femininity of CSS
When it comes down to the root of the problem, perhaps it isn't CSS itself but our unwillingness to examine our sexist ideas of what is worthy in web development.
Life Outside the Boys Club: Why I Spoke Up About Rivian's Toxic Bro Culture (and Got Fired).
Schwab talks about her experience at Rivian, an electric vehicle startup. Rivian has described itself as a company that hugely values culture, but Schwab says she encountered sexism and bro culture there, and was fired for speaking out about it.- Morris writes about decades of misogyny and abusive behavior within radical leftist organizations, and about how some of the men responsible for it have been infiltrators and informants.
#anti-fascism · #feminism · #gender · #policing · #race
This Is How Everyday Sexism Could Stop You From Getting That Promotion
Researchers created a computer model to illustrate how relatively small instances of gender-based discrimination may build up over time in ways that have marked impacts on women's careers. The author writes about how laws are generally designed to address fairly extreme discriminatory incidents, and don't effectively help with the ongoing, lower-level discrimination that can still have profound effects on a woman's career.- McKinsey published their annual study of women in the workplace, which analyzes DI&B efforts in corporate America and the experiences of women in the workplace. This year's study found that women are experiencing significantly higher levels of burnout, while also stepping into leadership positions and taking on additional work to support their colleagues and teams. McKinsey found much of DI&B work is done by women, and they are largely going unrecognized for it. The study also found that women of color are continuing to have a worse experience at work, and "although the number of White employees who identify as allies to women of color has increased over the past year, the number taking key allyship actions has not." The study summarizes, "The path forward is clear. Companies need to take bold steps to address burnout. They need to recognize and reward the women leaders who are driving progress. And they need to do the deep cultural work required to create a workplace where all women feel valued."
Department of Fair Employment and Housing v. Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Legal complaint)
The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) has filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, the games company best known for games like World of Warcraft and Overwatch. The lawsuit alleges systemic underrepresentation, underpayment, and underpromotion of women and people of color across the company, as well as a "frat boy" culture of harassment and discrimination in which "women are subjected to 'cube crawls' in which male employees drink copious amounts of alcohol as they 'crawl' their way through various cubicles in the office and often engage in inappropriate behavior toward female employees. Male employees proudly come into work hungover, play video games for long periods of time during work while delegating their responsibilities to female employees, engage in banter about their sexual encounters, talk openly about female bodies, and joke about rape." The lawsuit alleges that HR was complicit in these issues, which pervaded the company up to and including at the executive level.The Kick-Ass Shit That Women In The Game Industry Don't Get Enough Credit For
After all the coverage of the lawsuit against Activision Blizzard and the women who have been victimized at that company, Notis and Hernandez spotlight some of the very impressive work women in the games industry have done.