Valleywag
CAMBRIDGE, MA — There's still hope, future. A full half of the people behind ROFLcon, the world's largest concentration of Internet-inspired pop-culture trends in one room, are female. Or, as they might put it, IRL LULZ 50% XX! As it's now officially impossible to host a tech-related conference without asking, Where are the women?, a "commenter" posed this to the morning's first all-guy panel. "Girls just have better things to do," answered Kyle "Paperclip to House Guy" MacDonald. Other possible explanations?
Joe "Marmaduke Explained Guy" Mathlete observed that maybe it's because girls grow up with "dolls," and boys get "G.I. Joes." Which are totally not dolls.
Deconstructing Web "memes" — the fancy term for online in-jokes — is serious business, but having a panel of dudes famous for making gags on the internet play Women's Studies 201? Enter sensitive girl-lover and online video svengali Andrew Baron of Rocketboom, explaining that unlike the rest of the internet, in Web TV, women — or at least the appearance of them in front of a whole lot cameras — do rule. Internet meme boys: they might not be the worst people to challenge stereotypes, but they sure are the most awkward.
(Photo: Kevin Chiu)
Comments
"the appearance of them in front of a whole lot cameras" ?
So we're still at "pics or it didn't happen"? Awesome.
did Denton really pay for coverage of ROFLcon
I never thought about it before, but being a single cat man is even sadder than being a single cat lady.
I'm confused about the one guy's moustache. Is that real? That's fantastic.
Patricia:
[www.worldbeardchampionships.com]
@michaellamb, lol.
someone needs to do this:
[www.worldbeardchampionships.com]
Another explanation?
Tech is largely unsexy, soulless and boring.
Statistically, women internet users are outpacing all overall users (male or female), are more interactive and make more of the buying decisions. Keep thinking otherwise boys :) You're making it easy for me to make money.
@Patricia2: Are you really suggesting that women will buy any sort of shiny bauble you shove in front of their faces?
@matto, I don't really understand what you mean but no, of course not. Isn't the article about how there aren't any women online or something and that the industry is ignoring the market? I had to reread the article a couple of times, but that's what I thought it meant?
regardling mathlete: [en.wikipedia.org]
some barbie dolls talk about war, essentially.
Why women aren't at roflcon... or why is it always the question.. the white/male guilt is awesome amongs the 250, and the reasons? women aren't spending time learning ajax. They like to crochet. They'll stay warm when the big one hits.
@Patricia2: It's just that women are underrepresented in the circle jerks which have controlled the public perception of the internet. The idea is twenty years out of date, but damnably persistent.
I got into a big argument on a British political site about why all the political bloggers are men...well, only MOST of the prominent ones are, because they're all bloody MPs for god's sake. Or they're connected with MPs in useful career ways. Duh, it's a reflection of the gender hegemony outside the internet, not something to do with what's actually going on online.
But it's really resistant to eradication, even in the face of statistics.
Start a discussion:
Login with your username and password below. Or comment on this post via email.
Forgot your username or password? New User?