Comments on: Saturday Night Meanderings

By: Anne

Anne — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:07:05 +0000

Sandy: that part would be interesting too!

By: Sandy Kemsley

Sandy Kemsley — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 23:08:00 +0000

In addition to asking whether people could tell the you were female by what you write, consider if you would write differently if you were masquerading as a man?

By: Anne

Anne — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 17:50:32 +0000

Sandy, we will have to compare notes on the magic flute next week. The one we are going to is some Maurice Sendak version (he’s the where the wild things are author)–not sure exactly what that means but I sure am looking forward to it.

I never had the experience of people not knowing I was female since I chose to use “Anne” in my blog name. I’ve been curious about what that would be like though–could people tell I was female just from the way I approach even apparently gender-free topics? How would they think differently of my ideas? Guess I’ll never know.

There is definitely an “illusion of inclusion.” It’s painful, but just one of the things to deal with in order to do what we love.

By: Anne

Anne — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 17:47:57 +0000

Ric: no apologies necessary, I understood what you meant I think and just wanted to clarify where I was coming from on the career pressure issue. I think I am more ambivalent about putting myself out careerwise than my husband because (1) we don’t expect as much from women’s careers and (2) women don’t get as many benefits of working hard at a career (lower pay, fewer promotions, etc.).

Yes, plenty of smart people here, men and women.

By: Anne

Anne — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 17:40:19 +0000

Cote’: a magic lizard brain? So that’s how you come up with so many good ideas on your podcasts–redmonk radio was one reason I was pondering instinct/intuition versus analytical mind because you guys come up with stuff so fast I imagine it’s got to be mostly instinct. But how do you know whether you’re right or wrong? I find my instincts are often right–but I worry about saying something wrong or dumb.

By: Anne

Anne — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 17:36:45 +0000

Isabella, it definitely helps to know people are out there listening and that we can air these things out even when there aren’t necessarily good ways to solve them. I think talking about it helps, and it’s useful to get men and women together to do that. I’m sorry to hear you don’t have a tech blog any longer, because I’m sure I would have enjoyed it. But happy to see that you do still blog.

By: Sandy Kemsley

Sandy Kemsley — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 17:10:10 +0000

I missed Jeneane’s post on the castration crowd, but it’s depressingly familiar after 25 years in technology. Either we’re castrating, or we’re sleeping with someone to get ahead; there doesn’t seem to be a way for many men to disregard gender when considering technical and business merits. It’s not just technology, however: I saw the results of a study at a conference recently that showed that when a US-based orchestra held blind auditions, more women musicians were hired than with auditions where the gender of the musician was known.

There’s an “illusion of inclusion” for women in technology, but we’re still outsiders in many ways.

When I started my business blog, my gender-neutral name meant that many thought that I was male. I actually contemplated leaving it that way, although I guess that only would have worked until a conference appearance or podcast got out.
By the way, I’m going to The Magic Flute this weekend, too.

By: Ric

Ric — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 11:54:36 +0000

Nice one Cote’!
Anne - my apologies if a) I got you wrong, and/or b) you got me wrong.I think my point was that BECAUSE you pay more attention to other interests, there is pressure on women to be ‘uber-successful’ just to be seen as ’successful’ professionally. I’m also not sure if it’s possible, or even desirable to see (e.g) Anne Z as just a “professional”, or just a mother - there is too much ‘bleed’ from one part of your life to the other, and part of what makes you a “good” professional is that other part of your life, and vice-versa. I’d like to point out that I think the same applies to men as well - and any guy that tries to ignore one or other side of his life will pay a very high price for the privilege (whether he knows it yet or not). Maybe it’s just that women are more cognizant of the potential costs then we are.
Personally, I like dealing with smart people - and I don’t feel any more castrated if they are women than if they are men - and there’s a few smart people right here in this conversation.

By: Cote'

Cote' — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 01:39:05 +0000

I for one, prefer the lizard over the wizard. My assumption, however, is that I have a magic lizard in my brain.

And “castration crowd”?! Holy crap! The seal is awesome. The larger point of busting the tech echo-chamber is always lost on men who rebel against the suggestion that we should refresh all our tech-babble with new people. To be frank, it’s to feed the lizard-brain: it gets bored listening to all these wizards. Hopefully the witches will make it laugh more.

By: Isabella

Isabella — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:37:00 +0000

Re: Women being put out - Anne, I feel this way in everything from gender to race. Even though I’ve learned to “go with the flow” (an ugly variant of ‘go along to get along’, I would like to see people who look like me wrangling things I like (business, marketing, tech)

What saddened me most was when my tech blog (long since dead) was noticed not for what I posted, but for my appearance and character (smart, young, black and female)

Keep going. If it helps, I’m listening.