The tweet was bad. But the response was even worse
Singaporean gaming hardware company Razer landed in hot water when it posted a tweet that was supposed to jab at Apple’s new Macbook Pro and its lack of ports.
The tweet has since been deleted, but the internet moves fast:
Image Credit: Polygon
Naturally, the tweet started a wild fire of anger with tech blogs such as Mic citing it as “the definition of sexism in tech” while Gizmodo wrote that it “certainly it doesn’t make Razer look very good.”
Also Read: The story of Natasia Malaihollo: From Ambon to Wyzerr’s success in the United States
At this point, my reaction was to tap a pen onto my working desk and pull out my best resting bitch face.
However, the real dam broke when supportors from various Twitter handles began to pour in respect for Razer, defending it for putting out a “witty, comedic approach to marketing”.
I could not hold it anymore. I (figuratively?) flipped a table when I saw people calling out Razer for “buckling to politically correct cry babies” by making an apology for the obscene tweet.
Once again, the tech industry —particularly the gaming industry— has made an effort to normalise sexual harassment as an inherent part of the industry. By considering ‘S my D’ as a joke that can be casually used in a tweet to promote a product.
This is Gamergate all over again, the incident when game developer Zoe Quinn received death threats and dealt with sexual harassment for creating a game that “angry young men” were unable to relate to and for allegedly having affairs with five men (some happened to be gaming journalists).
Also Read: Sorry, but this is why we can never solve gender issues in tech
Misoginists have been using sexual assault as a weapon to scare women (cis and trans-women alike) from what they perceived as their “space”. They are using violent language to invade personal spaces and bodily autonomy, in an attempt to scare women away from the industry.
Get out, woman, you are not welcome. You are incapable. You are a distraction. You are a nuisance. You are a problem.
(Have you heard about this men-only coworking space in Australia?)
Sexual harassment is a weapon that is being used to alienate women from the tech industry. I am not going to repeat the mantra of how it affects women, mentally and physically. It is obvious enough. Besides, like the perpetrators would care at all.
But let me point it why this is detrimental to the tech industry in general: Alienating women will cost it a highly potential talent pool.
Also Read: When it comes to gender equality, China is better than Silicon Valley: Dr. Lee Ng
Despite whatever the misoginists tried to say, one’s gender does not affect a person’s ability to innovate and build groundbreaking products. We have seen this many times and a GitHub experiment even revealed that women can be considered better coders than men — but only if they hide their gender identity.
Whoa, hiding your true identity for the sake of being able to build a career and maximise potential? Is this The Mask of Zorro? A Shakespeare tragedy? Do we need to oblige men to cover their head with paper bags at work, so that they would understand how bad it is to not be able to be yourself at work?
If defending my bodily authority makes me a crybaby, then what should we call those who dropped their pants simply because they ran out of clever marketing jargon? What should we do with them?
I’d suggest buying a Mac.
—
Image Credit: chajamp / 123RF Stock Photo
The post I’d rather be a crybaby than be okay with Razer’s obscene tweets appeared first on e27.