Designer News
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Why acknowledging sexism (even inadvertent sexism) is important
8 years ago from Emily Campbell, Design Specialist @ InVision, Mentor at OOOHours and DesignLab
Oliver Pattison, 8 years ago
I think this is exactly right. Even before this issue, I was noticing how few voices of women were being heard on Designer News – it seems like there is an unresolved cultural problem here. And I can see how this might have happened: there is occasionally an undercurrent of hostility and lack of concern for other perspectives here. And occasionally is all it takes. A handful of sour voices can spoil it for everyone.
Being welcoming is something that the community as a whole is responsible for. I hope that it will change soon.
I know that privilege, and unconscious sexism and racism are hard things to wrap your mind around. It took years for these to finally sink in from the first moment someone criticized me. I just wish people weren't so aggressive and self righteous here. It's rendering this community unsafe, and somewhere many of us don't want to be anymore.
Reading the DN comment threads related to gender and race has been really difficult in the past couple of months (this as a white male, I can't imagine how difficult it is for women or people of color). This community would seriously benefit if more people took a moment or two before typing out their gut reaction and causing other people pain.