#downwiththepartiarchy

[kirkonline]

#REALTALK (NOT) Let's talk about SOFTWARE!

Hey y’all I’m SOOOOOOOO excited to announce, the REALTALK girls did NOT post a video this week!!!!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYY! I’m hoping they finally realized that they’re absolute bafoons who shouldn’t be given a public space to spew false nonsense (Am I allowed to say that on the internet or is that considered being inequitable? Idk who cares today is a glorious day!!!!!!!) I decided to hop onto Instagram to check their socials to confirm that they were in fact NOT going to post, but instead found myself trapped in the endless rabbit hole of reals. THE DOOM SCROLLING GOT ME. During my thumb workout I came across this meme.

I didn’t quite get it, but I remember my friend Rebecca saying that women in CompSci always stick together. I did; however, wonder why such opinions and stereotypes emerged? So, I did some digging and was absolutely APPAULLED by the stats I found. Only around 23% of Tech jobs are held by WOMEN!!! One of the constantly growing industries has an extreme male bias, and I wanted to know why? I sat for a moment and thought, WELL! people like the REALTALK girls don’t help when trying to uplift women and break gender stereotypes. Stereotypes that insecure men will try to manipulate and exploit to degrade women just to try and reinforce their own toxic masculinity.

I wondered how these biases affect the way our software has come to exists (AS IT SEEMES THE MAJORITY OF PROGRAMMERS ARE MEN WHIPPING UP THEIR CODE BASED CONCOCTIONS). After an internet dive I found this TedTalk by Elise Hu, discussing a concept she calls the technological gaze. From what I understood this is the idea of how algorithms have developed notions of beauty standards, which surprise surprise adhere to unattainable beauty standards. With the usage of AI photoshop isn’t easy to catch, leading women to feel it necessary to get bodily surgeries to ‘IMPROVE’ the way they look and adhere to the beauty standards of today.

No offense, but I don’t want to live in a world where everyone looks like Kylie Jenner and her duck lips. I mean part of the reason the algorithms win is because mass corporations use celebrity influencers to push products onto consumers to make them hooked on continually buying products. EVEN IF IT MEANS TELLING A 9-YEAR-OLD THAT THEY’RE LIPS ARE TOO SMALL. Like what!?!?!?!?!?!?!??! And don’t get me started about how when we really look into it and reflect back on the percent of women in tech, its not surprising to find out it is men writing and imputing their bias’ and preferences into the software that is developing these beauty standards.

I strongly wonder why such misogyny entered into the world of tech? I did some more research after pondering how the world is supposed to get better when it seems everyone wants to go back to the days of Mesopotamia, where a man could punch a pregnant woman and if she died then the state wouldn’t kill the man who struck her, but rather murder his daughter. Cause that makes sense!?!?!? I found this article, which discusses how women have been INSTRUMENTAL in the development of technology. In fact, women were the first computer’s during WW1. Women in computing have ensured that the design and development of software reflect a range of human experience, particularly when it comes to visual knowledge. Their contributions have helped create software that doesn’t just process data but processes and presents it in ways that are culturally aware, user-centered, and inclusive. Yet, we are blind sided to believe that’s not how it actually is?!?!?!? FUCK THE PATRIARCHY!

I could go on about this forever, so I’ll stop this now. I know today wasn’t a typical debunk, but I hope y’all learned that the stereotype of women in tech has been one that was forced and imposed upon women due to patriarchal structures. And let me just say this, I may find the REALTALK girls lying, irritating, ignorant, dumb dumbs, but I’d never hate them for being women (that vote for trump….well then I would). Anyways always remember to question everything and #STAYVIGILANT.