The Boys of DemoCamp strike again
Although not (I think) as bad as the incident at DemoCamp 9, I found a not-insignificant level of sexism in one of the presentations at last night’s DemoCamp 12: Alec Saunders of Iotum was demonstrating their Talk-Now service, and his demo scenario involved himself and three (presumably fictional) others: Frank, John and Jill.
Frank, he wanted to talk to about the budget.
John, he wanted to meet for drinks after work.
Jill, however, he wanted to ask out on a date.
Is it just me, or is it too much to ask that some man, somewhere, depict a woman in a technology demo scenario as something other than a sex object? Who knows, maybe Alec’s bi, and his “drinks” with John was just a thinly-veiled euphemism for wild man-sex, but that wasn’t the impression that I had.
7 Comments
Hey Sandy,
Thanks for pointing that out. No sexism intended. I’ve worked with hundreds of talented female engineers in my career, and hope to continue to do so. I’ll find another reason for demo-guy John to call demo-gal Jill in future demos.
Alec.
Thanks for the comment, Alec. I had the impression that it was unintentional, but still kinda stuck out for me. Call me a sensitive female engineer, I guess.
[...] I thought the DemoCamp presentation I did last night went pretty well, but was a little surprised to see this posting The Boys of DemoCamp Strike Again. Sandy Kemsley found my scenario where demo-guy John asks demo-gal Jill for a date to be sexist. Personally, I didn’t see it as discriminatory, nor do I consider dating necessarily a bad traditional behaviour to perpetuate. After all, where would we be if didn’t occasionally find a mate and breed… extinct! [...]
I’ll tell you something I was suprised by Sandy… it was the constant Tracy Lords joke. It’s interesting what we’re sensitive to. I am surprised that women apparently didn’t find that offensive. It certainly made me cringe when I heard it, and while it wasn’t “offensive” to me, I thought it a little tasteless given the gender mix in the audience.
I have no idea who Tracy Lords is, so I guess I missed that one.
Ah, well, you can find her bio (it’s Traci Lords)in most of the movie and television databases on the internet. I’ll leave it to you to search further if you’re interested.
[...] My post earlier this week about Alec Saunders’ sexist demo scenario at DemoCamp 12 (criticism that he took quite gracefully) led to both a blog post on his part, then an email and Skype discussion between us. [...]