Former GitHub CEO Tom Preston-Werner resigned following allegations of sexual harassment and intimidation at the company, which enables the exchange and sharing of software code. Software developer Julie Ann Horvath accused him and his wife Theresa of being disrespectful to women at the company when she resigned last month, prompting an investigation. Evidently, Mr. Preston-Werner had to take the fall because his employee didn’t get along with his wife.
According to the NYTimes blog piece on the story, Horvath’s resignation was “an example of the sexism and alpha-male culture that are endemic in software engineering.”
I don’t know what planet these people at the NY Times are living on, but it bears little resemblance to what I’m familiar with. Alpha male and software engineer are pretty close to mutually exclusive terms. Sure, such people do exist, but they are rare, and don’t even come close to defining the culture. Have any of them ever worked on a construction crew or in any kind of male job that requires physical labor? The wimpiest guy on a crab boat, for example, is a lot more intimidating than your typical tech worker. Not all that long ago, I was violently yelled at by a logger for getting in his way on a dirt road near Oso (that town where a mudslide just killed dozens of people), and I was carrying a rifle! Can anyone imagine a software engineer letting loose on an armed man?
The reason these feminists go after the software guys is because, like dogs, they can smell fear. Incidentally, I think they can also smell money, but that’s a lawyer-assisted ability. They can also sense weakness and a propensity to give in to women.
Back in the 80s, feminists were mounting a full-on assault on municipal police and fire departments. This was largely prompted by sexual harassment laws and the bonanzas they promised successful litigants. For a while, it seemed like every female cop and firefighter wannabe and her lawyer was filing suit. They were going to break the “old boys network” and equalize the force. But guess what? The cops didn’t flinch. They retained the same cynical asshole attitude they’ve always had. Sure, they hired a few women for PR, and allowed the cities to tut-tut them and make a show of being angry, but since then they’ve only grown more powerful, better armed, safer and as male as they were thirty years ago.
It turned out that not only were women generally uninterested in being cops in the first place, they really were intimidated by true sexist alpha male behavior.
So the lesson here is that if you want to avoid being pushed around by feminists like Julie Horvath, the key is to stop being nice to them. If you try to be soft, progressive and understanding, women like Horvath will sense weakness and strike. When you play by their rules, you might as well hand over your wallet along with your balls.
Personally, I like men who act in a civilized manner, try to play fair and are considerate people. I enjoy their company much more than that of pushy assholes. But even gentlemen need to stand up for themselves and, as the saying goes, “cast not your pearls before swine.” Just remember: if you aren’t dealing with a lady, you don’t have to treat her like one, and feminists are not – even by their own definition – ladies.
