EppsNet Archive: Women

The 12th Man

 

The home crowd of the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks is known as The 12th Man. Isn’t this awfully sexist? Doesn’t it marginalize female Seahawk fans? Wouldn’t The 12th Person be a more appropriate appellation? I’m surprised there isn’t more outrage over this. It seems like the kind of thing that someone should be really bent out of shape about. Read more →

30 Feet Away

 

From 30 feet away she looked like a lot of class. From 10 feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from 30 feet away. — Raymond Chandler, The High Window Read more →

Why Aren’t Women Interested in Computer Science?

 

According to this recently published research paper, women aren’t interested in computer science because of media portrayals like “The Big Bang Theory,” in which technologists are depicted as socially awkward, interested in science fiction and video games and physically unattractive. If that seems like a compelling line of reasoning, you can read a more complete write-up in this WSJ.com article. What I’ve never been able to figure out is why people are so interested in why women aren’t interested in computer science . . . Read more →

Marilyn Monroe Was a Size 12 and Einstein Was a Moron

 

I saw this photo today on Facebook with a comment added by the poster: “She was a size 12.” I’m an empiricist. Maybe “empiricist” is a polite word for what I am. I hate things that don’t make sense. Marilyn Monroe being a size 12 is one of those bits of misinformation that lives forever because a lot of people would like for it to be true. And yet, anyone who’s ever seen Marilyn Monroe — her full figure — in a movie or photo would notice that she had a very small waist and was obviously NOT a size 12. So I commented that while Marilyn’s point is well taken, on her worst day she was not a size 12. The original poster replied, “Of course none of this is verifiable at this point, but your comment does not help empower those who are inspired by this ‘fact,’ no matter… Read more →

3 Questions That Get All Women Excited

 

I get a lot of spam lately with that topic: 3 Questions That Get All Women Excited. Does anyone know what the questions are? Asking for a friend . . . Read more →

Joyce Carol Oates Gets Slammed

 

EppsNet stands behind Joyce Carol Oates in this Twitstorm, in opposition to those who think that while raping women may be a bad thing, what’s really deplorable is freedom of thought and questioning theocracy. In solidarity, we publish a couple of previously unseen (because they’re terrible) photos of the two of us taken with Mark Twain in the Doe Library at UC Berkeley. Read more →

Occam Has Mislaid His Razor

 

Silicon Valley Discriminates Against Women, Even If They’re Better — PBS NewsHour An academic says that Silicon Valley is “not a meritocracy.” He doesn’t offer any evidence to support that. He just looked around and noticed more men than women in the high-tech workforce. The fact that there are more members of Group A doing X than there are members of Group B doing X is not evidence that members of Group B are being discriminated against in their efforts to do X. In particular, he says that only 3 percent of tech firms in the Valley were founded by women, as though founding a tech firm is a fun thing that everyone should want to do. Founding a startup is an ultra-high-risk activity that requires insane amounts of time and sacrifice. Do you want to have friends? A social life? Do you have a family? Do you want to… Read more →

Opting Out

 

Best-educated moms are also more likely to ‘opt out,’ research finds — Life Inc. Opt out of what? It turns out “opt out” means opt out of the workforce. How is a mom staying home and raising her kids considered “opting out”? Read more →

Chinese Women Can Afford to be Picky

 

Via Steven Landsburg: China has one of the highest male-female sex ratios in the world. That means women can afford to be picky. Here are the requirements listed by a female graduate student seeking a mate on the Chinese equivalent of match.com: Never married Masters degree or more Not from Wuhan No rural I.D. card No only children No smokers No alcoholics No gamblers Taller than one hundred and seventy-two centimeters More than a year of dating before marriage Sporty Parents who are still together Annual salary over fifty thousand yuan Between twenty-six and thirty-two years of age Willing to guarantee eating at least four dinners at home per week At least two ex-girlfriends but no more than four No Virgos, no Capricorns Read more →

Randy Newman: “I’m Dreaming”

 

Randy Newman has a new song and video out — “I’m Dreaming” — about a voter who casts his ballot solely based on skin color. I listened to it . . . it’s great, like every other Newman song I can think of, but didn’t this train leave the station in 2008? We already have a black president. (Yes, his mother was white, but “mixed-race” doesn’t get you 12 percent of the electorate.) Will some people not vote for Obama because he’s black? Yes. Will some people only vote for Obama because he’s black? Yes. As Geraldine Ferraro said in 2008, “If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman of any color, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is.” Naturally, she was denounced as a racist by the… Read more →

Rara Avis: Female Republicans and Tax-Paying Democrats

 

Here’s a headline from NBC News coverage of the RNC: Women share their reasons for being at the Republican National Convention NBC does a lot of editorializing in their “news” coverage. I propose the following headline for next week’s DNC: Taxpayers share their reasons for being at the Democratic National Convention Read more →

Welcome to Bakersfield

 

There’s a bunch of Cub Scouts here at the Taco Bell in Bakersfield. I don’t know . . . aren’t you supposed to take Cub Scouts to the woods so they can cook things over a campfire? I think I could score some hot chicks in Bakersfield. I’m sizing up my competition here — nothing but fat guys with enormous heads. Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be any hot chicks in Bakersfield — just fat guys, fat women and fat, dopey Cub Scouts. Read more →

In America, Anyone Can Be President … Uh, Not So Fast There, Mr. Antichrist

 

While more than nine in 10 Americans would vote for a presidential candidate who is black, a woman, Catholic, Hispanic, or Jewish, significantly smaller percentages would vote for one who is an atheist (54%) or Muslim (58%). Americans’ willingness to vote for a Mormon (80%) or gay or lesbian (68%) candidate falls between these two extremes. — Atheists, Muslims See Most Bias as Presidential Candidates I fear that I won’t live to see a gay atheist in the Oval Office. In other findings, far more Americans are open to voting for a black presidential candidate (96%) than for a Mormon (80%). Blacks also poll higher than women (95%), Catholics (94%) and Jews (91%), although those percentages are within the margin of sampling error. Read more →

I’m Addressing the Shortage of Women in Technology

 

I keep hearing that there aren’t enough women in technology, like this is a problem. The most obvious explanation is that women don’t want to work in technology. If they want to work in other fields, fine. If they want to raise their kids, even better. I did some tutoring for a girl taking AP Computer Science. She’s a junior in high school and wants to be a veterinarian. Afterwards, she told her dad, “If I decide not to be a veterinarian, maybe I’ll be a programmer.” Don’t let it be said that I’m not doing my part to address the shortage of women in technology, even though I think it’s baloney . . . Thus spoke The Programmer. Read more →

Angry Illiterates Shouldn’t Work at Bookstores

 

There’s no one behind the customer service counter at Barnes and Noble but there is a woman doing something with the books in front of the counter . . . “Do you work here?” I ask. “Yes,” she says, but not in a friendly way . . . more like yes, I work here but I regret it. ‘I’m looking for The Book of Holiday Awesome,” I say. “I’ve never heard of that,” she says. I don’t care if she’s heard of it. I just want to know if they have a copy of it on hand. “Do you know the author?” she asks. “No.” She types a couple of things into the computer. “Nothing is coming up,” she says. It’s a popular book so something should be coming up, even if it’s just to say they don’t have it in stock. I lean over the counter to see what… Read more →

Don’t Make Me Laugh

 

A new study says that men are funnier than women — but just barely. — latimes.com Men are a lot funnier on average, a few women are very funny, and women who have a reputation of being funny, like Lucille Ball or Carol Burnett, are usually not funny at all. Read more →

The Most Interesting Man in the World?

 

UPLAND, Pa. (AP) — Two pregnant women were allegedly involved in a fight in which one slashed two other people inside a Philadelphia-area hospital room. Upland police say the pregnant women, ages 21 and 22, were fighting with a woman and a teenage girl inside a room at Crozer-Chester Medical Center on Tuesday afternoon. Upland police Chief John Easton says the women were all visiting a male patient who is recovering from a gunshot wound. — Police: Pregnant Woman Slashes 2 Inside Crozer-Chester Medical Center « CBS Philly Read more →

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