A Few Takes On How To Fix The Tech Industry's 'Bro' Problem
The tech industry's sometimes sexist "brogrammer" culture came into focus at least twice this week, making it as good a time as any to highlight the running conversation about how to constructively change the systemic, entrenched issues that allow for offensive apps like Titstare, which was presented at a tech industry hackathon.
We rounded up smart takes from developers, community leaders and journalists in the tech sphere on how to think about moving forward. A few of these contributions are linked to fuller pieces, others are kindly written just for you All Tech readers and included below. (By the way, NPR's Code Switch has diagrammed the various types of bros, though it's missing a tech bro classification.)
First, Rachel Sklar. She's founder of Mediaite and co-founder of TheLi.st, a community for women in technology. She explains how the pervasive culture allows for these offensive ideas to get thought up in the first place:
"They didn't think it was a big deal, because nothing about the place where they were presenting made them think it would be. Boys will be boys, and where it's mostly boys around to reinforce those norms, the lines between what's cool to say in a professional context relax and blur. (Two words: Booth babes.) Dissent will tend to be shushed, and people who object will be told to calm down and learn to take a joke. And because such 'jokes' have minimal negative feedback, it's less noticeable when envelopes are pushed. That's how these things usually happen — someone gets a bit too comfortable, and a line is crossed. But the comfort comes from somewhere."