Comments for Bay Area Girl Geek Dinners http://www.bayareagirlgeekdinners.com Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:35:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 Comment on Girl Geek Dinner #2: Sponsored by Facebook by aishwarya http://www.bayareagirlgeekdinners.com/baggd2-facebook/#comment-62 aishwarya Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:31:33 +0000 http://www.bayareagirlgeekdinners.com/?p=12#comment-62 presence of women in business is a force for growth and greater civility. This will be thrown up in the face of every woman who attends this event, not to mention the other sponsors presence of women in business is a force for growth and greater civility. This will be thrown up in the face of every woman who attends this event, not to mention the other sponsors

]]> Comment on Girl Geek Dinner #2: Sponsored by Facebook by Careers.Org Blog http://www.bayareagirlgeekdinners.com/baggd2-facebook/#comment-60 Careers.Org Blog Fri, 20 Jun 2008 22:36:34 +0000 http://www.bayareagirlgeekdinners.com/?p=12#comment-60 <strong>Are You a Woman in Information Technology? Attend a Girl Geek Dinner...</strong> By Jennifer Boutell, Careers.Org Contributing Editor Looking for some real life contact in your “social networking” strategy? Girl Geek Dinners started in London, as a way for women in information technology and other technical fields to ... Are You a Woman in Information Technology? Attend a Girl Geek Dinner…

By Jennifer Boutell, Careers.Org Contributing Editor

Looking for some real life contact in your “social networking” strategy? Girl Geek Dinners started in London, as a way for women in information technology and other technical fields to …

]]> Comment on Girl Geek Dinner #2: Sponsored by Facebook by Meryl Steinberg http://www.bayareagirlgeekdinners.com/baggd2-facebook/#comment-56 Meryl Steinberg Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:54:37 +0000 http://www.bayareagirlgeekdinners.com/?p=12#comment-56 The women on stage for your demo seemed uncomfortable, as did the founder. That should have been a clue. Your idea for getting money for providing content is a grand idea. So, why did this remind me of prostitution? It's a sad enough that men use women as sex toys for promo, but other women??? Comeon guys.. I mean gals? You can do better. We are yearning to see the bar set higher. The women on stage for your demo seemed uncomfortable, as did the founder. That should have been a clue. Your idea for getting money for providing content is a grand idea. So, why did this remind me of prostitution? It’s a sad enough that men use women as sex toys for promo, but other women??? Comeon guys.. I mean gals? You can do better. We are yearning to see the bar set higher.

]]> Comment on Girl Geek Dinner #2: Sponsored by Facebook by mary hodder http://www.bayareagirlgeekdinners.com/baggd2-facebook/#comment-55 mary hodder Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:23:57 +0000 http://www.bayareagirlgeekdinners.com/?p=12#comment-55 One more thing left out of my comment above: I would not want to have a Zivity photography taking photos of women at this event for Girl Geeks. It's a professional event.. and further promotes in this context the sexualization of women at work. It would be fine at a fun event.. but not this dinner. One more thing left out of my comment above:

I would not want to have a Zivity photography taking photos of women at this event for Girl Geeks. It’s a professional event.. and further promotes in this context the sexualization of women at work. It would be fine at a fun event.. but not this dinner.

]]> Comment on Girl Geek Dinner #2: Sponsored by Facebook by Mary Trigiani http://www.bayareagirlgeekdinners.com/baggd2-facebook/#comment-54 Mary Trigiani Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:21:44 +0000 http://www.bayareagirlgeekdinners.com/?p=12#comment-54 Am very disappointed that this great event team has chosen to accept sponsorship by a woman-owned and led pornography company. Apart from being inappropriate, the choice concerns me from the perspective of what exactly we mean by female emancipation today. It is not the ability to build and run businesses of any kind in the way that men have -- just because we can. Emancipation means freedom from enslaving ourselves and others to the belief that a woman's role in society is to use her body to attract business, keep business or do business. Further, having been around since before the millenium, I understand the broader implications of this move both for the pornography company and the men who have given it publicity: that by accepting this company as a sponsor and attending the dinner, women endorse the creation of pornography and it's because we can create it ourselves now. You are reinforcing the age-old rationalization that humans are here only to satisfy each other's baser instincts instead of demonstrating that the presence of women in business is a force for growth and greater civility. This will be thrown up in the face of every woman who attends this event, not to mention the other sponsors and the event team itself. I encourage you all to re-think your acceptance of this sponsor. Thank you. Am very disappointed that this great event team has chosen to accept sponsorship by a woman-owned and led pornography company. Apart from being inappropriate, the choice concerns me from the perspective of what exactly we mean by female emancipation today. It is not the ability to build and run businesses of any kind in the way that men have — just because we can. Emancipation means freedom from enslaving ourselves and others to the belief that a woman’s role in society is to use her body to attract business, keep business or do business. Further, having been around since before the millenium, I understand the broader implications of this move both for the pornography company and the men who have given it publicity: that by accepting this company as a sponsor and attending the dinner, women endorse the creation of pornography and it’s because we can create it ourselves now. You are reinforcing the age-old rationalization that humans are here only to satisfy each other’s baser instincts instead of demonstrating that the presence of women in business is a force for growth and greater civility. This will be thrown up in the face of every woman who attends this event, not to mention the other sponsors and the event team itself. I encourage you all to re-think your acceptance of this sponsor. Thank you.

]]> Comment on Girl Geek Dinner #2: Sponsored by Facebook by mary hodder http://www.bayareagirlgeekdinners.com/baggd2-facebook/#comment-53 mary hodder Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:59:13 +0000 http://www.bayareagirlgeekdinners.com/?p=12#comment-53 Hi, Glad to see you are doing another girl geek dinner. I wanted to pass along my thought when i saw that Zivity was sponsoring the dinner and speaking. I'm guessing that they got a lot of flack for the CEO taking of her shirt at the top of Techcrunch from women in SV. Seeing that hardly any women get a Techcrunch feature, many women, myself included, concluded that the message was the way to get on TC was to take your shirt off. I thought the video itself was funny, but it just didn't belong on TC and sexualizes the business of creating a startup by women. It just feels uncomfortable. Then seeing that Zivity was hosting and speaking here.. I'm guessing that they were trying to get back into the good graces of tech women by doing this. About 10 women have commented to me today (at Supernova) that they are appalled by Zivity and Girl Geek Dinner collaborating. It's not that we object to porn, just to the using (or appearance of using) girl geeks to get back their cred. Even if that's not what's happening from their perspective, the rest of us who would like to *not* be sexualized and objectified in our work lives really find the Zivity association disconcerting. I hope you aren't being used, but I also won't attend on Thursday night because I don't want to support Zivity. Mary Hi,

Glad to see you are doing another girl geek dinner.

I wanted to pass along my thought when i saw that Zivity was sponsoring the dinner and speaking.

I’m guessing that they got a lot of flack for the CEO taking of her shirt at the top of Techcrunch from women in SV. Seeing that hardly any women get a Techcrunch feature, many women, myself included, concluded that the message was the way to get on TC was to take your shirt off. I thought the video itself was funny, but it just didn’t belong on TC and sexualizes the business of creating a startup by women. It just feels uncomfortable.

Then seeing that Zivity was hosting and speaking here.. I’m guessing that they were trying to get back into the good graces of tech women by doing this.

About 10 women have commented to me today (at Supernova) that they are appalled by Zivity and Girl Geek Dinner collaborating.

It’s not that we object to porn, just to the using (or appearance of using) girl geeks to get back their cred. Even if that’s not what’s happening from their perspective, the rest of us who would like to *not* be sexualized and objectified in our work lives really find the Zivity association disconcerting.

I hope you aren’t being used, but I also won’t attend on Thursday night because I don’t want to support Zivity.

Mary

]]> Comment on Girl Geek Dinner #1: Sponsored by Google by BayGrrl http://www.bayareagirlgeekdinners.com/baggd1-google/#comment-14 BayGrrl Wed, 05 Mar 2008 06:03:05 +0000 http://www.bayareagirlgeekdinners.com/?p=6#comment-14 What annoys me isn't who introduced whom at your dinner, but that the invitation, as portrayed above, indicates that each girl geek can bring one guy geek. What if one of your girl geeks wanted to bring another GIRL geek? Would that be allowed? Or are your girl geeks limited to bringing a GUY geek guest or NO guest at all? This is the 21st century, Angie, not to mention this event was held in the Bay Area which has a "pretty" good reputation of being inclusive. I hope you will reword future Girl Geek Dinner invitations to make it clear that girl geeks are welcome to bring the geek of their choice, and leave gender out of it altogether. What annoys me isn’t who introduced whom at your dinner, but that the invitation, as portrayed above, indicates that each girl geek can bring one guy geek.

What if one of your girl geeks wanted to bring another GIRL geek? Would that be allowed? Or are your girl geeks limited to bringing a GUY geek guest or NO guest at all?

This is the 21st century, Angie, not to mention this event was held in the Bay Area which has a “pretty” good reputation of being inclusive. I hope you will reword future Girl Geek Dinner invitations to make it clear that girl geeks are welcome to bring the geek of their choice, and leave gender out of it altogether.

]]> Comment on Girl Geek Dinner #1: Sponsored by Google by Seebe http://www.bayareagirlgeekdinners.com/baggd1-google/#comment-8 Seebe Sat, 09 Feb 2008 06:44:23 +0000 http://www.bayareagirlgeekdinners.com/?p=6#comment-8 What a paradox the USA is a poster child for civil rights and emphasizes equal rights for women. But fewer and fewer girls choose to be geeks. What’s up with that? I’m familiar with Malaysian Software Companies about 40 percent of staff are women and they are technical. What’s going on? Pattern generally repeats compare UK / Europe to India / China? Could it be girls without choices fight harder to get equality? But once it’s freely available, make other choices? Fund some research or rip me a new one? What a paradox the USA is a poster child for civil rights and emphasizes equal rights for women. But fewer and fewer girls choose to be geeks. What’s up with that?

I’m familiar with Malaysian Software Companies about 40 percent of staff are women and they are technical. What’s going on?

Pattern generally repeats compare UK / Europe to India / China?

Could it be girls without choices fight harder to get equality? But once it’s freely available, make other choices?

Fund some research or rip me a new one?

]]> Comment on Girl Geek Dinner #1: Sponsored by Google by Angie Chang http://www.bayareagirlgeekdinners.com/baggd1-google/#comment-7 Angie Chang Sun, 03 Feb 2008 05:08:52 +0000 http://www.bayareagirlgeekdinners.com/?p=6#comment-7 Both comments above started with the words “pretty”. Continuing that trend, I am pretty surprised that there is such division and derision over the understanding of what it means to be a girl geek. My Firefox browser crashed right before I posted an in-depth reply to the points above, so please contact me at angiechang@gmail.com -- let's set up a time to have a quick talk over the phone or coffee in San Francisco. I think these points are very valid, and there have been some good discussions on similar topics (geek/chic balance) at the Systers mailing list lately. This all points to the need for these conversations within the girl geek community. Both comments above started with the words “pretty”. Continuing that trend, I am pretty surprised that there is such division and derision over the understanding of what it means to be a girl geek.

My Firefox browser crashed right before I posted an in-depth reply to the points above, so please contact me at angiechang@gmail.com — let’s set up a time to have a quick talk over the phone or coffee in San Francisco.

I think these points are very valid, and there have been some good discussions on similar topics (geek/chic balance) at the Systers mailing list lately. This all points to the need for these conversations within the girl geek community.

]]> Comment on Girl Geek Dinner #1: Sponsored by Google by Kragen Sitaker http://www.bayareagirlgeekdinners.com/baggd1-google/#comment-5 Kragen Sitaker Fri, 01 Feb 2008 07:08:16 +0000 http://www.bayareagirlgeekdinners.com/?p=6#comment-5 It's a pretty sad commentary on this event that at a company that employs Ellen Spertus and Lori Park, and until recently employed Anna Patterson and Ruchira Datta, the speakers are pretty much all a bunch of managers. And you can't claim that the problem is that you don't *know* Ellen Spertus; you have her introducing the speakers! At a real geek event, Ellen Spertus wouldn't be introducing Irene Au; Irene Au would be introducing Ellen Spertus. It's even sadder that the approaches to reputation-building suggested in the event announcement don't include actually doing geek things --- things like writing innovative software, inventing new query languages, publishing academic papers, telling geek jokes, teaching students how to build computers from NAND gates, filing lawsuits to defend the internet from spammers, or appearing onstage in a circuit-board-patterned corset --- just to name a few things Ellen Spertus has done which are *far* geekier than anything a pseudorandomly selected main speaker has done. Now, don't get me wrong --- I know management is hard, and doing it well is important. But it's not *geeky*. How did the dinner go? It’s a pretty sad commentary on this event that at a company that employs Ellen Spertus and Lori Park, and until recently employed Anna Patterson and Ruchira Datta, the speakers are pretty much all a bunch of managers. And you can’t claim that the problem is that you don’t *know* Ellen Spertus; you have her introducing the speakers!

At a real geek event, Ellen Spertus wouldn’t be introducing Irene Au; Irene Au would be introducing Ellen Spertus.

It’s even sadder that the approaches to reputation-building suggested in the event announcement don’t include actually doing geek things — things like writing innovative software, inventing new query languages, publishing academic papers, telling geek jokes, teaching students how to build computers from NAND gates, filing lawsuits to defend the internet from spammers, or appearing onstage in a circuit-board-patterned corset — just to name a few things Ellen Spertus has done which are *far* geekier than anything a pseudorandomly selected main speaker has done.

Now, don’t get me wrong — I know management is hard, and doing it well is important. But it’s not *geeky*.

How did the dinner go?

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