Idea for Ubuntu Women project

[Tsjoklat]

Sapo: I am not really sure what you are trying to say here. Ubuntu Women for me is not a project to make pretty candy coloured skins. The base of this project is to help women become more at ease in the so far male dominated linux world. It is our intention not to seperate the women from the 'rest', but to make the threshold lower.
I am currently working on a base concept of what direction I would like this project to go. I guess you are not very clear about the ideas we had to motivate us to start this group. Though your suggestion of themes and what not is surely appreciated, it is not something I have even considered to be part of UW.


D

*fears an invasion of Barbie Linux in the nearby future*

[TravisNewman]

Wow I managed to miss the progression of this thread.

knome_fan: Yes yes, I figured it was irony or sarcasm. Those don't translate well over text. That's why it's not helping to promote our cause in the least, and perhaps hurting it for some.

[senorcheaposgato]

WARNING: feminist anger ahead

Alright, so let me work through the logic here...

Men would never use a flowery, brightly colored, cute-little-animals-with-big-eyes theme.
Only women would use such a theme.
So...
All women want that theme?

Look, I'm sure (or at least I hope) that nothing in this thread was meant to offend. But (sorry) it kinda did.

Theory is actually a lot of what's needed in the Ubuntu Women project. Sure, we could make things a lot prettier, but why? If we want acceptance and comfort, doing something that (apparently) alienates the male majority is probably not the way to do it. For whatever reason, women are one the whole far less comfortable with computers. Frankly, that kind of thing won't help.

I don't want a fashionista to be my role model. I hate barbie. What I do want is someone who is smart, savvy, confident, and capable. If the person happens to be a woman, then that's even better.

So yeah, maybe we're sitting around rallying the troops. But how many women are on this forum? And how many women will it take to make a difference?

[poofyhairguy]

For whatever reason, women are one the whole far less comfortable with computers. Frankly, that kind of thing won't help.

What will help?

[poofyhairguy]

I have to tell you that as a woman, Linux can be pretty sterile at times.

I have to tell you, I don't understand what this means.

[TravisNewman]

woo! Welcome Katie!

[senorcheaposgato]

For whatever reason, women are one the whole far less comfortable with computers. Frankly, that kind of thing won't help.

What will help?

Hmm...good question. I honestly can't tell you. But then (contrary to popular belief) I'm not omniscient. Sorry.

Alright, here's a few suggestions. First, it's important to try to ignore these stereotypes. Note that I did not say eliminate. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to do that. But honestly, I think we all know that it's pretty unrealistic to hope for that anytime soon. So try to ignore female stereotypes.

Second, it's important to try to ignore the male stereotypes as well. It's an unfortunate cultural reality (not universally true, but you get the point) that computers have been marketed to men. Look back at advertising for the early gaming platforms and home computers. Dad and son are playing the game while mom and daughter watch and cheer on the men. Why is that? I honestly don't know.

We have all been shown these images since the earliest days of personal computing. Does advertising have an effect? Obviously. But I don't think that's all of it.

Yes, as Kassetra pointed out, studies show that women are afraid of "breaking" their computers. Am I? Well...yeah, to a degree. It's more annoying than anything, but I don't want to lose files and have to deal with the whole mess. What can be done about that fear? Education.

Education--it's a wonderful thing, isn't it? Teach a man to fish and he'll eat forever, you know the story. Until women feel comfortable in forums like this, without fear of stereotypes or condescension, that education will be slow. Everyone fears the unknown.

So I guess what they always said at the end of GI Joe is true--Knowing is half the battle!

[poofyhairguy]

Alright, here's a few suggestions. First, it's important to try to ignore these stereotypes. Note that I did not say eliminate. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to do that. But honestly, I think we all know that it's pretty unrealistic to hope for that anytime soon. So try to ignore female stereotypes.

Ok. I'll personally try.

Second, it's important to try to ignore the male stereotypes as well. It's an unfortunate cultural reality (not universally true, but you get the point) that computers have been marketed to men. Look back at advertising for the early gaming platforms and home computers. Dad and son are playing the game while mom and daughter watch and cheer on the men. Why is that? I honestly don't know.

Ever since the Genesis beat out the great Super Nintendo because of Mortal Combat blood and football games, games have been targeted to guys. For them we are an easy sell for some reason. Plus at some level, its like cars with some young males. A status thing.

We have all been shown these images since the earliest days of personal computing. Does advertising have an effect? Obviously. But I don't think that's all of it.

Me neither. Probably a sum of wholes. But some trends repeat themselves so much its hard to know when the advertising/stereotypes end and reality begins.

[lakcaj]

Obviously Sapo was just trying to encourage the initiation of some sort of project that some of the "Ubuntu Women" could collaborate on. What is the essential problem with Sapo suggesting that it might be fun to create a physical and appreciable project?

[henriette_holm]

What is the essential problem with Sapo suggesting that it might be fun to create a physical and appreciable project?

As far as I'm concerned there is absolutely nothing wrong with suggesting new projects - except for branding it a "women's project". How many of the other packages you download via synaptic has a "suited for women / made by women" in the description? None - as far as I'm aware.

To me Ubuntu Women is about promoting the general use of Ubuntu Linux among women - and the use of computers in general I suppose. I don't know about the rest of the women in here but I'm fed up with:

1) guy's assuming that NO woman can use computers as well - or even better - as themselves.
2) sales assistances in the local computer store trying to sell you a computer because "it looks cute" - not telling you anything about what's hiding inside it.
3) everyone around me treating me like a "freak" because I just happend to know about computers - and I'm a woman.

- Henriette