SmutOnRails
martinfowler.com
martinfowler.com
The two most helpful insights in the article are "The crucial point is: do we want to create an environment where 'thin-skinned' people aren't welcome?" and "I can't choose whether someone is offended by my actions. I can choose whether I care."
So far I haven't seen those ideas related elsewhere, and I would like to know y'all's thoughts on them.
If a person wishes to publish such a presentation on his blog, that's fine, but not at a conference. Imagine the presentation were about aborigines in a similar manner. It would be regarded as discriminatory, and similar rules should be used to judge sexism.
Edit: why is everyone so easily offended nowadays? You have the right to offend and the right be offended! That's part of society. You can't stop this by making up political correctness rules.
It's not question of rights, it's a question of what the technology industry believes is reasonable behaviour. My belief is that this presentation and the Rails leadership's response to it was way out of line. Martin Fowler's SmutOnRails post shows that he has similar thoughts.
Like why people are going on and on about it...
Did you read the article? As nonrecursive and rufo point out in this thread, Martin Fowler makes several new and insightful comments with regards to community.
There's been a shift away from talking about the presentation specifically, towards talking about communities and long-term goals to further them. That seems like a worthwhile discussion to continue, particularly here where community development is an ongoing topic.
If one has a few minutes, reading this might not be a waste of time (as it initially appears from the name and the topic referenced in it), and could give some good food for thought on the social aspect of collaborating with people who are different from oneself.
People could have just noted that they think the presentation was in bad taste, and moved on with their lives.
If the presentation was representative of the mindset of the whole Ruby community, well then, maybe you should reconsider being part of the Ruby community - there's another one with magical ponies and stuff!
If not, then all is well. People are different.
Remember that awesome presentation by Wil Shipley, with pictures of the women in Galactica, accompanied by talk about being a "slut"?
Where was the Righteous Nerd Sect Of The Women's Rights Brigade then?
Well, I'm a nerd, and I bet most of the people frequenting this forum are nerds too.
I guess this was another good example of people overreacting then.
I think anyone who was offended has no sense of humor.
America really need to cool down when it comes to nudity. It really won't hurt the children.
View the slides though and then say the presenter thinks of it as genderless.