Discussion of Richard Stallman's comments at GCDS last summer made a reappearance on the GNOME foundation-list, thanks to Patryk Zwardawski's claim that the proposed Code of Conduct for speakers was "defined to stop RMS from making jokes".
I thought the following anecdote, provided originally in a comment on my blog entry about my emails to Stallman on the incident was telling. Here's a woman who had an interest in free software, and was turned away by Stallman's not only singling her out for completely unwelcome attention, but—incredibly—gesturing in her direction when he brought up "EMACS virgins".
"Member of the Church of EMACS have a Holy Duty to relieve [such women] of their virginity". And there she is, boys!
Hi, I'm a technically-proficient woman who was interested from a young age in building a career in the free software industry. My interest is still there, but I've since abandoned the idea of it as a career move and switched to network security (where I work with both free and non-free software). I grew up wanting to design and write operating systems that did cool stuff and that everyone could use and share.
Then I got involved in the local "scene" and was driven off by the rampant dismissal of female programmers and blatant, unapologetic sexism shown to me by BOTH the men and women in the industry and hobby. Being constantly objectified and treated as second-rate simply because I had breasts instead of a beard wore me down and I eventually abandoned all of the projects I was involved in to focus on security. Going to an RMS talk in the early 90s and meeting with him in person was among the worst of my experienced - I was fifteen, still obviously underage, and skipping gym class to hear him speak at a professional conference (that I'd snuck into). He actually pointed to me in the back and proclaimed, into the mic, "A GIRL!" causing the audience to turn and look. Mortifying. Then he proceeded to gesture toward me every time he referred to "EMACS Virgins." (I cannot believe that he is still doing the same talk 10+ years later.) I was young and terrified of calling out someone that I'd previously idolized.
The sexism on display in his talks and in these comments are the precise reason as to why there aren't many women in free software to speak up, and the awkward gender ratio and propensity for male nerds to shout down any opposition makes it even more difficult to do so.
So, that's what I've been talking about all this time. And some significant people are beginning to agree, and they're saying so.
Many still aren't. "Free Software Advocate", FSF Community Response Team member, raging homophobe and woman-hater Brandon Lozza in particular has been making much of my statement that Richard Stallman's "harmless little joke" was tantamount to advocating rape (although he's completely distorted the statement to claim that I accused Mr. Stallman of rape, but Brandon's not terribly bright...)
We've had an incident of sexual assault at a Linux conference within the past couple of weeks. Why are we turning a blind eye to Mr. Stallman's continued defense of his idea of "gentle humor"? Someone needs to explain that "women's outreach" isn't like "reach out and touch someone". Certainly not without their consent.
