OK, I'll bite. Sides of this issue you might not be considering [LWN.net]

OK, I'll bite. Sides of this issue you might not be considering

Posted Sep 22, 2009 16:38 UTC (Tue) by storming (guest, #58723)
In reply to: OK, I'll bite. Sides of this issue you might not be considering by BrucePerens
Parent article: FSF to host a mini-summit on Women in Free Software

> If anyone had the slightest chance of understanding EMACS virginity to be
> in the slightest way related to sex, and then feeling threatened, it
> wasn't because they were a woman. To believe that is insulting women much
> worse than anything RMS said. Lots of women handle much worse social
> challenges every day. And this is not approaching why there are so few
> women in the technologies.

While I wasn't threatened, I did feel it was insulting to women.

The reason I don't find these comments threatening is partially because of all the men (like Lefty) that always stand up and speak out for women.

While I'm one of the 2% of women in free software, I have always felt extremely welcome and supported. On the rare occasions I've encountered behavior that was really not friendly, several of the men present have always checked in to make sure I'm ok and to make sure that I know it's not a universal attitude.

So while I think I'm usually pretty capable of taking care of myself, I really appreciate the feeling of support that I get from the free software community at large. It's part of the reason I've been working with open source software for 10 years.

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