The top librarian at MIT recently argued that to make tech workplaces more inclusive and welcoming to women, ditch “Star Trek” posters and other geeky stuff cluttering office walls.Periodically at work I see posters of clenched fists promoting socialist causes. Somehow I find a way to survive, even though I do find their message offensive.
“There is research that shows that workplaces that are plastered with stereotypically ‘tech or nerd guy’ cultural images – think Star Trek – have negative impact on women’s likelihood of pursuing tech work and of staying in tech work in general or in that particular work environment,” said Chris Bourg, director of libraries at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“Replace the Star Trek posters with travel posters, don’t name your projects or your printers or your domains after only male figures from Greek mythology, and just generally avoid geek references and inside nerd jokes,” Bourg added. “Those kinds of things reinforce the stereotypes about who does tech; and that stereotype is the male nerd stereotype.”
I'm not even sure how to interpret this statement, though:
Bourg, a self-described “butch and queer” cis woman and “feral librarian” who’s been “misidentified too many times to ignore,” noted she wants to bring to librarianship “a sociological lens and a feminist perspective.”Isn't it sexist to bring a "feminist perspective" to "librarianship"?
3 comments:
I am far from the current definition of a feminist and far from a tech type, but I have no problem with tech types talking techie or naming their spaces, stuff or projects for male mythological or historical heroes. In real life, each domain has its own language and traditions and those who do not like it can either adapt or choose another field.
In fact, just reading the twaddle from this whiny and aggrieved specimen makes me want to rush out and name something Zeus.
Do women not like Star Trek? I mean, I'm here at my desk and I have a TIE fighter model and a Discworld Librarian stuffed orangutan...My husband's computer is next to mine. His is named Faramir and mine is Eowyn. The kid computer, which is large and black, is Angmar...
...I have degrees in Physics and Civil Engineering...I named my Kindle "Heracles"...I don't have a Y chromosome.
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