About Petticoat Despot
Petticoat Despot is written by Jen Larkin, a female computer programmer in San Francisco. Others may eventually join the fray. You can find out more about her at her website.The name Petticoat Despot is a reference to a series of letters between John Adams and his wife, Abigail Adams. In this series, Abigail encourages John to argue for equality for women in the founding of the United States, to which he replied:
...We know better than to repeal our masculine systems. Although they are in full force, you know they are little more than theory....
We have only the name of masters, and rather than give up this, which would completely subject us to the despotism of the petticoat, I hope General Washington and all our brave heroes would fight.
Mission Statement
There are many ways that sexism works against women in technology, especially in Silicon Valley, but my whole life, my interests in science and technology have been a source of discrimination and shaming. I know now that what I experienced is common and I also know that it shouldn't be.Despite what I've been told, I am smarter than most men. I know this because I've seen my IQ test results and I know that the only requirement to being "smarter than most men" is an IQ of 101. Mine is significantly higher than that. Yet I have literally been told while on the job that I have no place working with computers because women are too stupid for the work. This attitude is shockingly common in Silicon Valley. Other systemic forms of sexual discrimination are at work here that aren't just bad for women, but also bad for Silicon Valley and the tech sector in its entirety.
Men and women approach problem solving differently. I believe that the best approach to problem solving is to bring men and women together, combining and balancing our approaches to eventually come to a solution that neither approach would have come to alone. Gender equality in the workplace leads to better products.
I am no longer content to silently put up with the discrimination against me, pretending that it doesn't happen so that exposing it doesn't harm my career. It has been made quite clear to me that my career is harmed whether I discuss the sexism or not. I hope, however, that by exposing the ramifications of misogyny in tech, I can inform people who have the power to change the system so that the system changes.
It would be impossible to discuss these topics without also discussing programming, so there will be technical content here. I will also be discussing sexism in politics, with an emphasis on exposing rhetoric that is disguised as logic, as well as sexism in media and personal relationships. My personal relationships will be covered elsewhere.
