Val's experience is disturbing [LWN.net]

Val's experience is disturbing

Posted Mar 27, 2008 11:30 UTC (Thu) by nix (subscriber, #2304)
In reply to: Val's experience is disturbing by ncm
Parent article: Quotes of the week

It's time to link to Val's real home page again, isn't it ;}}}

(that was the most impressive, and funniest, test of the disturbing way in which people's ideas are valued less merely because they happen to be female that I've ever seen.)

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I'm confused...

Posted Mar 27, 2008 13:12 UTC (Thu) by pr1268 (subscriber, #24648) [Link]

Okay, now I'm confused. I really don't want to offend Val or otherwise say anything offensive or inappropriate. I kind of remember a discussion on LWN a year or two ago, about Val and Val's gender identity, which got out of hand. Lots of hurtful and insensitive comments flying around. But, PLEASE let's not revisit that ordeal.

That being said, I don't care about Val's gender identity or sex - Val certainly contributes to the Linux community with Val's blog, and Val's latest entry seems to indicate that the public has an unclear or distorted perception of Linux (and its community).

Granted, Hans Reiser's recent histrionics on the stand (causing the judge to chuckle, etc.) likely makes him relatively more newsworthy in the San Francisco Bay area - in other words, people are perhaps more likely to recognize Reiser's name (or have the associated thought/idea of Linux pop into their memories) during casual conversation (as Val's property manager's reaction would seem to indicate).

I'm confused...

Posted Mar 28, 2008 3:23 UTC (Fri) by xanni (subscriber, #361) [Link]

I had a brain blip and referred to her as "Valerie Whatsername" during a session at LCA this
year, only to discover that she was sitting two seats away... now that's embarrassing.  The
funny thing is that you'd think I couldn't possibly forget her surname, because I'm a huge fan
of the late Jim Henson (no relation)!

Val's experience is disturbing

Posted Mar 27, 2008 21:13 UTC (Thu) by ncm (subscriber, #165) [Link]

Sorry, who is it that is thought to be valuing ideas differently based on whether somebody's
female?

Gender values

Posted Mar 27, 2008 23:35 UTC (Thu) by pr1268 (subscriber, #24648) [Link]

Watch the movie Tootsie (starring Dustin Hoffman) sometime.

That may be an unfair comparison; paid soap opera acting is a wildly different career than volunteer (or paid) operating system kernel developer. Whereas Dustin Hoffman's character dressed in drag in order to get an acting job, Val's motivation may have been to shatter any myths (perceived or not) that women are any less capable at kernel hacking than men.

Gender values

Posted Mar 28, 2008 21:29 UTC (Fri) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link]

IIRC (fading memory of stuff over a year old) that was exactly her point.