Congratulations slashdot, you just jumped the shark for me. A front page story about a scam artist with a victim complex and a direct link to a Patreon account so people can give her more money. Time to go find another tech news site.
Regardless of what you believe Ms. Wu experienced, do you truly not know any women in software or gaming who've experienced the kind of awful "boy's only club" attitudes and sometimes downright literal sexual harassment?
In my experience most people are supportive of transsexual, just not those who are lying assholes.
Wu, how do you justify your claim of being a feminist when your game has females depicted as an adolescent boy might draw them, play the victim card all the time, have been caught exaggerating and outright lying so often and then hiding behind claims of sexism, etc.
Follow-up question: your male past is easily found by anyone doing a cursory search. Do you refuse to talk about it because you are afraid that others won't see you as a "real woman?" Wouldn't a real feminist embrace their trans experience to provide a more inclusive view of, and insight into, the female experience from the viewpoint of a transsexual?
note... I was outed on Slashdot a decade ago, and overall the experience was very positive. Being open about it has presented opportunities to help others reach a better understanding of who we are.
I have a suggestion of a transsexual I would actually like reading an interview about in Slashdot. Sophie Wilson (ARM chip designer). I respect that work.
What I do not respect is reading about people who make their career around politically correct bullshit and produce nothing of value. This isn't news for nerds and it isn't stuff that matters.
MULE was one of the best games ever. Really there is a Q and A I would of loved.
How do you manage to pack the game logic and graphics into an 8k cart ? Are there any triicks you have to use in getting the 6502 a barely 8 bit processor to handle the program ? Does this crimp your work ?
This whole topic reminds me of a line from mule
"Your investment in artificial stupidity has paid off"
Dani Berry is survived by her three children, who now operate a company which trades under the name Ozark Softscape (Berry’s old development studio), and which manages her IP and "digital legacy".
Not the same, but maybe we could get an interview with them?
Wilson described herself as a feminist and has spoken in interviews about women's difficulties in tech. She would be ripped to shreds by the MRAs just like other women who have done the same.
In my experience most people are supportive of transsexual, just not those who are lying assholes.
note... I was outed on Slashdot a decade ago, and overall the experience was very positive. Being open about it has presented opportunities to help others reach a better understanding of who we are.
That's interesting that that's your experience. I've found it interesting that it seems like many religious conservatives don't object to trans* the way they do to homosexuality. Iran, for instance, punishes homosexuality but performs a huge number of transexual surgeries every year. Being trans is seen as being preferable to being gay.
In the US, even Rick Santorum, poster child of the (IMHO) nutbag religious conservatives, said that if Bruce Jenner said he was a woman, then she was a woman. Santorum has be
That's interesting that that's your experience. I've found it interesting that it seems like many religious conservatives don't object to trans* the way they do to homosexuality.
Strange world we live in
It is not strange. Every trans person assumes a very well defined *hetero* sexual identity.
It is not strange. Every trans person assumes a very well defined *hetero* sexual identity.
That's not true at all. Caitlyn Jenner is dating a woman. She is both a transwoman and a lesbian.
More to the point, if religion claims that you are created in God's image and also proscribes a particular way to live (e.g. as a heterosexual even if you experience homosexual urges), why is it ok for you to ignore homosexual desires but embrace a desire to change your body and gender. Both are doing things that your body as constructed by God wasn't originally intended for.
What repulses conservatives is the fact of someone not being hetero normative. As I said before, a trans person is one who adopts (through a lot of work) a very defined hetero normative sexual identity.
If a gay person wants to be "cured" i.e. adopt an hetero normative identity he will be accepted and congratulated. I know, it is not the same, but the common thing here is being hetero normative.
Some trans persons could pass as a perfectly *normal* person, regarding th
... As I said before, a trans person is one who adopts (through a lot of work) a very defined hetero normative sexual identity.
I really think you are way out of line here. Of the relatively few trans people I can think of.
Burger Heineman [burgerbecky.com], a transwoman, is married to a woman. There's actually another programmer I remember--and I can't for thel ife of me remember her name, or find her page via google--who ported a lot of games to Mac over the years (and worked at one of the porting companies) who transitioned quite awhile ago and also identified as a lesbian.
Its "offtopic". thats why. How she was born has nothing to do with unethical activity. Its a personal attack on a very hotbutton topic which will do nothing but legitimize her.
Off-topic or not, I hadn't heard this claim before and am curious if it is true, but her Wikipedia bio says nothing about it and Googling her supposed former name only turns up sources of dubious veracity (that seem to be dedicated to attacking her and so might be making shit up to smear her -- not that being trans should be a smear, but I can see some people seeing it as such).
Can anyone claiming that she is trans link to some reliable source to back that up? E.g. something not connected to Gamergate (eith
You know, this is the chance to actually ASK HER this question and find out from the horse's mouth so to speak. Not that she is a horse or anything. She might be though, she could be a horse in disguise! Time to start a Twitter account and get the rumors flying.
For the record, I had never heard the claim that Brianna Wu is a transwoman before today, and I have no idea if it's true or not. I have followed GamerGate only minimally and can't say I understand all the issues.
BUT, if it's true that Brianna is a transwoman, that is certainly not off-topic. It's the same as Rachel Dolezal claiming to be black, and to have suffered her whole life for being black, when she is white and grew up in a racially accepting family. If Dolezal wants to make herself look black and claim to be black, that's fine with me, but it stinks of hypocrisy for her to lie about her past, her experiences, and her identity while at the same time claiming to be a spokesperson for people with that identity!
Likewise, if Brianna Wu is a transwoman but also claims to speak towards a personal history of suffering gender prejudice and so forth, it doesn't exactly look kosher.
Let me make sure I've got this right. Are you saying that skin color is the same as gender?
No. They are different. One is skin color and the other is gender.
It sounds like you're trying to imply that transgenderism isn't a real thing. You're welcome to think that if you want, but keep in mind that if you're trying to say it's not real and she isn't really a woman, all you're going to do is attract people who will defend her purely on that basis, and criticisms of her actual behavior and ethics will get pushed under the rug.
Not at all. The way I view it, identity is pretty much the most personal thing we have. It's maybe the only thing that is entirely self-contained within "me." I control how I present my identity to the outside world, and so do Brianna Wu and Rachel Dolezal--everybody does. I have no interest in judging whose identities are valid and whose aren't--they're identities! They just are.
My point, rather, is that if you build your public persona on b
For the record, I had never heard the claim that Brianna Wu is a transwoman before today, and I have no idea if it's true or not. I have followed GamerGate only minimally and can't say I understand all the issues.
BUT, if it's true that Brianna is a transwoman, that is certainly not off-topic. It's the same as Rachel Dolezal claiming to be black, and to have suffered her whole life for being black, when she is white and grew up in a racially accepting family. If Dolezal wants to make herself look black and claim to be black, that's fine with me, but it stinks of hypocrisy for her to lie about her past, her experiences, and her identity while at the same time claiming to be a spokesperson for people with that identity!
Likewise, if Brianna Wu is a transwoman but also claims to speak towards a personal history of suffering gender prejudice and so forth, it doesn't exactly look kosher.
No, fuck that noise. I'm a trans woman too, and we definitely don't experience "male privilege." Having a dick doesn't seem to stop the bile people keep spewing at women in general. It gets directed at us even moreso because people can't understand why you wouldn't WANT to be a guy, like it's superior or something.
But why is it different from Rachel Dolezal? Well, what Dolezal did is nothing short of cultural appropriation and manipulation. Blackness is a cultural and heritage thing, white people take black
Both gender and race are ultimately an identity. If you believe that Dolezal is "racially appropriating", then every trans woman is "gender-appropriating" in exact same way. I've read many articles trying to explain why this is not the case, but it all boils down to "because it is, and fuck you for even asking" (some make that latter part very explicit, basically saying that even daring to make an analogy is incredibly offensive).
The closest thing that came to a reasonable argument is that you can't change
As MRAs love to keep pointing out, men can be victims of gender prejudice too. In any case, she is a woman, and guys threatened to rape and sexual assault her [businessinsider.com], so by any measure she has a right to speak about those issues.
Your first image is too small to read. The second one... Well, if it is real then I despair at the poor literacy level in the prosecutor's office, but that issue has been dealt with anyway. There was a mistake made by Wu's staff when reporting the incidence, since corrected. Try emailing them again.
Okay, now I can actually read it (the image you posted earlier was tiny) it's obvious from the tag line that she was just curating a list of idiots who jumped at the bait.
Okay, now I can actually read it (the image you posted earlier was tiny) it's obvious from the tag line that she was just curating a list of idiots who jumped at the bait.
Hah, that's hilarious. "Curating a list of idiots who jumped at the bait." That's rich.
Do you, out of curiosity, have any connection to Brianna Wu (or anyone else directly involved in GamerGate?). I'm asking because you seem to be taking these slashdot threads really personally, and it seems a bit suspicious.
I'm asking because you seem to be taking these slashdot threads really personally, and it seems a bit suspicious.
I can happily disclose that unlike the other poster who didn't say whether or not they have connections. I don't have connections with them, and I do have something to do with Gamergate. [reddit.com]
You mean like how she claimed she was threatened and had to leave her home out of fear, only to do the video interview in the home she claimed she left?
She is Trans. Go look up any available public records for John Flynt. He stopped existing when Brianna Wu came around, and they share the same addresses. Also, Mr. Flynt was born a rich white male. I take his perspective on anything besides being a trans woman with a grain of salt. Even then....
scam artist or not, I'd request you not misgender her. I'd rather not give this type the high ground on this issue. You'll also confuse the issue and drum up sympathy for people who will defend her for being trans*.
He can wear frilly dresses and cut out all of the parts of his body that he wants, it still doesn't change the fact that he has XY chromosomes. In other words: It's a man baby!
However, that's not even what I have a problem with. I have a problem with him pretending to be a woman and thinking he knows the plight of actual women. That just cheapens and harms the work that real women do towards equality.
Not directly no. I don't and I haven't. My direct experience has been just the opposite with folks bending over backwards to give them a shot. If you are female and have even a basic aptitude you can write your own ticket at most places I've worked. I'm not saying women don't suffer negative experiences but disproportionately? I don't think so.
In the form of a question: Are there real problems faced by women in game development, and in STEM more generally, or is the playing field level now? What do you think of efforts being made by big tech companies, e.g. Intel spending $300m on increasing diversity? Is that needed and if so what would you spend it on?
You misunderstand, Im sure Wu has had plenty of horrific experiences, I just think most of them have been brought upon herself for the purpose of garnering attention, sympathy and money. I know plenty of women in male dominated industries, specifically 3D illustration and programming (>80% male in my experience), none of them have experienced anything even remotely akin to a 'boys club'. Yes it's a sausage-fest, but they're generally perfectly accepting of any women that they get to work with.
My main objection is that somebody with a reputation of milking every penny of sympathy they possibly can from those gullible enough to believe everything she says, has somehow obtained a Slashdot frontpage entry *with a link to her donation page*. Regardless of what you or I think of her, it beggars belief that even for a Q&A promotion the "Im a victim, give me money" link still gets through.
"I just think most of them have been brought upon herself for the purpose of garnering attention, sympathy and money" - and why presume that when it's something you can't really ever know? There's no point in projecting motive except to discredit someone from the start, which doesn't look good. She ought to be criticized on the virtue of her views and actions only.
In 2010, a number of fellow UMiss alums recalled their impression of the person now calling themselves Brianna Wu. This is over 4 years before Brianna Wu was publicized in public media. They didn't even know about the existence of a person named "Brianna Wu".
In it, several recount the actions of John Flynt (who now goes by Brianna Wu). John Flynt at one point came into the student paper office, and when his comic strip was rejected, blew his lid. He called one woman a "fat
As expected, all we have are some anonymous forum posts. Somehow that counts as evidence now.
Well, I knew this guy "Anonymous Coward" back at school. It was a total dick-head, racist, sex offender who liked to drink his own urine (said it improved his health). Apparently that's a fact now.
Wu is most certainly a woman, perhaps even legally. As to questions of her character, I've said many times that being a woman does not make one a good person. #include <stdlecture.h> Summary: if it looks like a woman and talks like a woman, well, it's a woman. (Disclaimer: you can't fool me. There are tons of ciswomen who've been whacked by the ugly stick, and my heart bleeds for them.)
Now, I've been thinking this thread over since I posted my questions. Wu is certainly an interesting character.
Ok, fine. She doesn't "pass" as well as I do. That's no fault of hers! Random fact time! Did you know that in a commercial a young Harisoo stared in, they actually had to photoshop in an Adam's apple?
The entire notion of passing is flawed. If we had a diagnostic test that could be used with children before the age of puberty, it would be a non-issue. "Passing" is entirely fucking tangential to the reason she's a woman.
You must have forgotten the "ask Florien Mueller" episode. The parallels - attention-seeker making the mistake of believing that any publicity is good publicity. Not going to end well whether she responds or not. Schadenfreude time.
Use facts that can be proven. Leave faith to religions.
Women are not anymore or less "believed" or "not believed" than men. Humans in general are believed when they are using proven or provable facts. They are also "believed" when they build credibility based on a history of using such facts and truths in their discourse. This particular human being has not been truthful, thus her credibility is in the pits.
This has no link to gender. It's not about gender. People that make it about gender want to shi
Related question: How is the criminal investigation into harassment going? Do you find law enforcement generally believes you, or do they accept the other side's claims that you ran an elaborate false flag operation against yourself? What kind of evidence is most effective, most likely to be understood and accepted? Can you recommend the best way to report criminal harassment?
Question for the GGers: If you have evidence of a false flag operation, why isn't there an on-going criminal investigation? At a mini
How is the criminal investigation into harassment going?
Last I heard, that Mass. prosecutors office isn't too happy with Wu lying about filing court documents about the people harassing her. I always find it funny that people lie about things that are public records.
Do you find law enforcement generally believes you, or do they accept the other side's claims that you ran an elaborate false flag operation against yourself? What kind of evidence is most effective, most likely to be understood and accepted? Can you recommend the best way to report criminal harassment?
Oh, this stuff. The best way to report harassment? Actually go down to a court house and file paperwork. The only problem is that you can't file harassment reports when you are harassing yourself or when people disagree with you on the internet.
Informing people about Ms. Wu's potentially criminal fraud in regards to her business, her online ventures, and her faked harassment, as well as her history of using racial and homophobic epithets before her latest persona as a Third Wave Faux Feminist, is not harassment.
Criticism of Ms. Wu is not harassment.
Debate with Ms. Wu's supporters is not harassment.
NONE of the discussion here has been harassment. This is a public forum and if bringing up Ms. Wu's name causes an outcry of disgust, that is the price of being a professional victim and a "polarizing" personality on social media.
Harassment is not a catch all word meaning "someone was mean on the Internet." It is not a shield against any debate, criticism, or disagreement. Don't play into the professional victims like Ms. Wu trying to use it as such.
Who's taking about harassment? I'm clearly talking exclusively about the wacky claim made by the AC inexplicably modded +5, which seems to only be supported by a few crazy fringe sites.
By analogy, the AC is claiming we faked the moon landings, and you're talking about monuments on Mars.
Who's taking about harassment? I'm clearly talking exclusively about the wacky claim made by the AC inexplicably modded +5, which seems to only be supported by a few crazy fringe sites.
By analogy, the AC is claiming we faked the moon landings, and you're talking about monuments on Mars.
And I was pointing out that your being skeptical of her faking her harassment is doubtful due to the comments in here doesn't mesh, as I haven't seen any harassment going on. Perhaps I jumped the gun.
It might also to have a bit of background: Ms. Wu specializes in antagonizing people, especially over social media, and then crying harassment whenever anyone takes the bait. She has been doing this for as long as I've been aware of her.
Given that this is the internet and it's trivial to make a twitter account, this usually invariably results in Ms. Wu getting some troll upset with her who will attempt to hurt her feelings based on any number of perceived weaknesses - doing so is not sexism. Indeed it would be the very definition of sexism to put on kid gloves just because of Wu's gender.
Ms. Wu has also admitted to creating twitter accounts to troll herself with, and some of the screenshots she has taken of this harassment are suspect -- for example, taking a screenshot within seconds of a tweet being posted, which is unlikely unless you are aware the tweet is about to be posted.
She then complains about this harassment publicly, links to her patreon page, and goes back to antagonizing people online. Pity farming or professional victimhood in a nuthsell. Granted, Ms. Wu is hardly alone, several of these fake feminist trolls have infested the Third Wave Feminism movement as of late, and are pushing a narrative of women being poor widdle fragile things that must be coddled and protected at all times because they're just so fragile.
It is when the question is "what mental illness do you have?"
Informing people about Ms. Wu's potentially criminal fraud in regards to her business, her online ventures, and her faked harassment, as well as her history of using racial and homophobic epithets before her latest persona as a Third Wave Faux Feminist, is not harassment.
Conspiracy theories and unfounded accusations repeated over and over again in an attempt to disrupt a person's life is harassment. If you have evidence of criminal activity or racist/homophobic behaviour then the correct action is to report it to the police, not go for internet mob vigilante justice.
Conspiracy theories and unfounded accusations repeated over and over again in an attempt to disrupt a person's life is harassment.
Like calling large swats of people "Misogynists" because they disagree with women ? Because that's an unfounded accusation levied way to easily these days and has disrupted the life of many people for the only crime of not trusting a woman's or male feminist's words without proof.
I have no problem with asking a women in tech (even one that experienced an abnormal amount of ill will or perhaps even overt sexism) about their experiences and how being a woman has affected their career and how they look at the world of tech. Having a less masculine perspective is fine, I want women to feel welcome and their ideas represented... But my number one question in this case would have to be why THIS person?
Did Wu contact Slashdot first for some reason? If so, why? Was this meant to go well or did Wu intend on this going badly? In the case that Slashdot contacted her, the same questions apply. Of ALL the women, they chose one of the very few that would get the most adverse reaction possible at this time. If that isn't fishy, I don't know what would be. Also, not posting as AC because I legitimately feel like these are important questions to ask. I don't know if this is malicious, or simply not thought through well.
Oh, I'm fine with Wu showing herself for the, dare I say "questionable" kind of person she really is. It's happened before and it'll probably happen again as long as it benefits her. But that's the thing, it's like a drug. Causes a high, she gets off on it, along with her donations. And right now for all I know, she could be trying to snort a figurative line of coke off our collective tempers. Or at the very least trying to legitimize her more notable behavior by coming off as suddenly considerate and profes
At this point, any woman would garner an adverse reaction as strong as the one we're seeing here.
Still, Slashdot editors know that even mentioning women brings out the bottom 10% in full force. I have little doubt they were the first to initiate contact, knowing it would drive up traffic.
Regardless of what you believe Ms. Wu experienced, do you truly not know any women in software or gaming who've experienced the kind of awful "boy's only club" attitudes and sometimes downright literal sexual harassment?
regardless of which, supporting a scam artist is not helping your cause and will only serve to de-legitimize it.
Or mabey the body size shaming, ableism about mental health, and even classist attacks on the typical software engineer through the "neckbeard" stereotype don't help much. 10-15 years ago, this would most likely include some underhanded homophobic attack(i.e. 'question' their sexuality), and 5 years ago, some form of genderphobia would also be present.
do you truly not know any women in software or gaming who've experienced the kind of awful "boy's only club" attitudes and sometimes downright literal sexual harassment
I do not. I'm willing to believe, the attitudes exist — as do women-only [cnn.com] clubs [guestofaguest.com], but I don't see anything particularly wrong (as in "this must be illegal!") with them. Nor do I know a person with a claim of having been persecuted over being a woman supported better, than something I can claim on the basis of being a Ukrainian expatriate.
Considering that several prominent female vets of the gaming industry have came forward and dispelled the myth of the "boy's only club" (Creator of "legacy of kain" for starters) , the entire narrative is hogwash.
Considering that several prominent female vets of the gaming industry have came forward and dispelled the myth of the "boy's only club" (Creator of "legacy of kain" for starters) , the entire narrative is hogwash.
Finding a few examples of women doing well in the gaming industry does not prove it is not sexist, any more than Barack Obama being president proves there is no racism in the US.
That's not why we change gender. Anyone seeking approval for a sex change on that basis would be denied. This is not to say that I approve of ms Wu's antics - to the contrary, she's been an attention whore and drama queen with dubious motives. Most of us are not like her.
I don't know if you've seen some of her posts on a trans support group forum, but she was pretty mean to other people going through some rough times. Some of the posts even made it seem that she hated other trans women. I would like to preface this next comment by saying I've stuck around through a good friends MTF transition, and I've been apart of the GSA and other LGBT support groups back in my HS and early college days - Honestly I think Wu got the transition done for attention. She has aspects from
You have got to be kidding me (Score:-1, Flamebait)
Re:You have got to be kidding me (Score:-1, Flamebait)
Re: (Score:1, Informative)
> boy's club
Incredibly ironic, since briana wu aka john walker flynt is actually a man.
Re:You have got to be kidding me (Score:4, Insightful)
What you originally said and what you said in this post are two different things. Once you figure that out you'll understand the downmod.
Re: (Score:2)
Heh. "Respectfully." Right.
Re: You have got to be kidding me (Score:5, Interesting)
Wu, how do you justify your claim of being a feminist when your game has females depicted as an adolescent boy might draw them, play the victim card all the time, have been caught exaggerating and outright lying so often and then hiding behind claims of sexism, etc.
Follow-up question: your male past is easily found by anyone doing a cursory search. Do you refuse to talk about it because you are afraid that others won't see you as a "real woman?" Wouldn't a real feminist embrace their trans experience to provide a more inclusive view of, and insight into, the female experience from the viewpoint of a transsexual?
note ... I was outed on Slashdot a decade ago, and overall the experience was very positive. Being open about it has presented opportunities to help others reach a better understanding of who we are.
Re: You have got to be kidding me (Score:4, Insightful)
I have a suggestion of a transsexual I would actually like reading an interview about in Slashdot. Sophie Wilson (ARM chip designer). I respect that work.
What I do not respect is reading about people who make their career around politically correct bullshit and produce nothing of value. This isn't news for nerds and it isn't stuff that matters.
Re: (Score:2)
PS: I would have also liked to read an interview with Dan Bunten but she's dead now. RIP.
Re: (Score:2)
MULE was one of the best games ever. Really there is a Q and A I would of loved.
How do you manage to pack the game logic and graphics into an 8k cart ?
Are there any triicks you have to use in getting the 6502 a barely 8 bit processor to handle the program ?
Does this crimp your work ?
This whole topic reminds me of a line from mule
"Your investment in artificial stupidity has paid off"
Re: (Score:2)
From a Kotaku article [kotaku.com]:
Dani Berry is survived by her three children, who now operate a company which trades under the name Ozark Softscape (Berry’s old development studio), and which manages her IP and "digital legacy".
Not the same, but maybe we could get an interview with them?
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Oh hey stalker dave,
Maybe you can figure out how to use the proper reply to buttons
Re: (Score:2)
Or Burger Heineman, an excellent programmer and person who has accomplished a shitload in the gaming industry.
Re: (Score:2)
Wilson described herself as a feminist and has spoken in interviews about women's difficulties in tech. She would be ripped to shreds by the MRAs just like other women who have done the same.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
In my experience most people are supportive of transsexual, just not those who are lying assholes.
note ... I was outed on Slashdot a decade ago, and overall the experience was very positive. Being open about it has presented opportunities to help others reach a better understanding of who we are.
That's interesting that that's your experience. I've found it interesting that it seems like many religious conservatives don't object to trans* the way they do to homosexuality. Iran, for instance, punishes homosexuality but performs a huge number of transexual surgeries every year. Being trans is seen as being preferable to being gay.
In the US, even Rick Santorum, poster child of the (IMHO) nutbag religious conservatives, said that if Bruce Jenner said he was a woman, then she was a woman. Santorum has be
Re: (Score:1)
That's interesting that that's your experience. I've found it interesting that it seems like many religious conservatives don't object to trans* the way they do to homosexuality.
Strange world we live in
It is not strange. Every trans person assumes a very well defined *hetero* sexual identity.
Re: (Score:2)
It is not strange. Every trans person assumes a very well defined *hetero* sexual identity.
That's not true at all. Caitlyn Jenner is dating a woman. She is both a transwoman and a lesbian.
More to the point, if religion claims that you are created in God's image and also proscribes a particular way to live (e.g. as a heterosexual even if you experience homosexual urges), why is it ok for you to ignore homosexual desires but embrace a desire to change your body and gender. Both are doing things that your body as constructed by God wasn't originally intended for.
Like I said, I don't get it.
Re: (Score:1)
I would think that Jenner is an outliner,
What repulses conservatives is the fact of someone not being hetero normative. As I said before, a trans person is one who adopts (through a lot of work) a very defined hetero normative sexual identity.
If a gay person wants to be "cured" i.e. adopt an hetero normative identity he will be accepted and congratulated. I know, it is not the same, but the common thing here is being hetero normative.
Some trans persons could pass as a perfectly *normal* person, regarding th
Re: (Score:2)
I would think that Jenner is an outliner,
... As I said before, a trans person is one who adopts (through a lot of work) a very defined hetero normative sexual identity.
I really think you are way out of line here. Of the relatively few trans people I can think of.
Burger Heineman [burgerbecky.com], a transwoman, is married to a woman. There's actually another programmer I remember--and I can't for thel ife of me remember her name, or find her page via google--who ported a lot of games to Mac over the years (and worked at one of the porting companies) who transitioned quite awhile ago and also identified as a lesbian.
Here's an article for you: http://mic.com/articles/74169/trans-women-can-be [mic.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Right on. I don't care what she/he was/is on the gender front. I do care about being manipulated and lied to.
Re: (Score:1)
If you feel another individual has besmirched your reputation then I recommend unchecking 'post anonymously' in the future.
Prediction: (Score:2)
12% of the anonymous posts in this forum which appear to lambaste Mr. Wu were actually posted by Mr. Wu.
Re: (Score:2)
Ok, Mr. Wu.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
Off-topic or not, I hadn't heard this claim before and am curious if it is true, but her Wikipedia bio says nothing about it and Googling her supposed former name only turns up sources of dubious veracity (that seem to be dedicated to attacking her and so might be making shit up to smear her -- not that being trans should be a smear, but I can see some people seeing it as such).
Can anyone claiming that she is trans link to some reliable source to back that up? E.g. something not connected to Gamergate (eith
Re: (Score:1)
You know, this is the chance to actually ASK HER this question and find out from the horse's mouth so to speak. Not that she is a horse or anything. She might be though, she could be a horse in disguise! Time to start a Twitter account and get the rumors flying.
Re:You have got to be kidding me (Score:4, Insightful)
For the record, I had never heard the claim that Brianna Wu is a transwoman before today, and I have no idea if it's true or not. I have followed GamerGate only minimally and can't say I understand all the issues.
BUT, if it's true that Brianna is a transwoman, that is certainly not off-topic. It's the same as Rachel Dolezal claiming to be black, and to have suffered her whole life for being black, when she is white and grew up in a racially accepting family. If Dolezal wants to make herself look black and claim to be black, that's fine with me, but it stinks of hypocrisy for her to lie about her past, her experiences, and her identity while at the same time claiming to be a spokesperson for people with that identity!
Likewise, if Brianna Wu is a transwoman but also claims to speak towards a personal history of suffering gender prejudice and so forth, it doesn't exactly look kosher.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Let me make sure I've got this right. Are you saying that skin color is the same as gender?
No. They are different. One is skin color and the other is gender.
It sounds like you're trying to imply that transgenderism isn't a real thing. You're welcome to think that if you want, but keep in mind that if you're trying to say it's not real and she isn't really a woman, all you're going to do is attract people who will defend her purely on that basis, and criticisms of her actual behavior and ethics will get pushed under the rug.
Not at all. The way I view it, identity is pretty much the most personal thing we have. It's maybe the only thing that is entirely self-contained within "me." I control how I present my identity to the outside world, and so do Brianna Wu and Rachel Dolezal--everybody does. I have no interest in judging whose identities are valid and whose aren't--they're identities! They just are.
My point, rather, is that if you build your public persona on b
Re: (Score:1)
For the record, I had never heard the claim that Brianna Wu is a transwoman before today, and I have no idea if it's true or not. I have followed GamerGate only minimally and can't say I understand all the issues.
BUT, if it's true that Brianna is a transwoman, that is certainly not off-topic. It's the same as Rachel Dolezal claiming to be black, and to have suffered her whole life for being black, when she is white and grew up in a racially accepting family. If Dolezal wants to make herself look black and claim to be black, that's fine with me, but it stinks of hypocrisy for her to lie about her past, her experiences, and her identity while at the same time claiming to be a spokesperson for people with that identity!
Likewise, if Brianna Wu is a transwoman but also claims to speak towards a personal history of suffering gender prejudice and so forth, it doesn't exactly look kosher.
No, fuck that noise. I'm a trans woman too, and we definitely don't experience "male privilege." Having a dick doesn't seem to stop the bile people keep spewing at women in general. It gets directed at us even moreso because people can't understand why you wouldn't WANT to be a guy, like it's superior or something.
But why is it different from Rachel Dolezal? Well, what Dolezal did is nothing short of cultural appropriation and manipulation. Blackness is a cultural and heritage thing, white people take black
Re: (Score:2)
Both gender and race are ultimately an identity. If you believe that Dolezal is "racially appropriating", then every trans woman is "gender-appropriating" in exact same way. I've read many articles trying to explain why this is not the case, but it all boils down to "because it is, and fuck you for even asking" (some make that latter part very explicit, basically saying that even daring to make an analogy is incredibly offensive).
The closest thing that came to a reasonable argument is that you can't change
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
As MRAs love to keep pointing out, men can be victims of gender prejudice too. In any case, she is a woman, and guys threatened to rape and sexual assault her [businessinsider.com], so by any measure she has a right to speak about those issues.
Re:You have got to be kidding me (Score:5, Informative)
Oh boy probably one of my favorite tweets and was quoted directly to her feed...by her. Funny how there was never any investigation about it right? Never mind they've been caught attempting to victimize themselves [imgur.com], or lie about pretty much anything. [imgur.com] Not even hitting the tip of the iceberg here.
Re: (Score:2)
Your first image is too small to read. The second one... Well, if it is real then I despair at the poor literacy level in the prosecutor's office, but that issue has been dealt with anyway. There was a mistake made by Wu's staff when reporting the incidence, since corrected. Try emailing them again.
Re: (Score:2)
Really? Cause it sure shows up easily on a 29" monitor. [archive.is] And of course you can't forget the other stuff either. [breitbart.com] I'm sure someone will go hurdurdur breitbart because they have an ideological bias.
Re: (Score:2)
Okay, now I can actually read it (the image you posted earlier was tiny) it's obvious from the tag line that she was just curating a list of idiots who jumped at the bait.
Re: (Score:2)
Okay, now I can actually read it (the image you posted earlier was tiny) it's obvious from the tag line that she was just curating a list of idiots who jumped at the bait.
Yeah, sure. It's not that they're mentally unbalanced or anything right? That they fish for attention, and have a martyr and victim complex. It's nothing like trying to blame GG for 'sarin gas' but in truth it was a anti-GG person who said it either right? [imgur.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Hah, that's hilarious. "Curating a list of idiots who jumped at the bait." That's rich.
Do you, out of curiosity, have any connection to Brianna Wu (or anyone else directly involved in GamerGate?). I'm asking because you seem to be taking these slashdot threads really personally, and it seems a bit suspicious.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm asking because you seem to be taking these slashdot threads really personally, and it seems a bit suspicious.
I can happily disclose that unlike the other poster who didn't say whether or not they have connections. I don't have connections with them, and I do have something to do with Gamergate. [reddit.com]
Re: (Score:1)
You mean like how she claimed she was threatened and had to leave her home out of fear, only to do the video interview in the home she claimed she left?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
Quick question - if his genetics are male, then how are we misgendering him?
Re: (Score:1)
He can wear frilly dresses and cut out all of the parts of his body that he wants, it still doesn't change the fact that he has XY chromosomes. In other words: It's a man baby!
However, that's not even what I have a problem with. I have a problem with him pretending to be a woman and thinking he knows the plight of actual women. That just cheapens and harms the work that real women do towards equality.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
> boy's club
Incredibly ironic, since briana wu aka john walker flynt is actually a man.
[citation needed on this one]
Re:You have got to be kidding me (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
In the form of a question: Are there real problems faced by women in game development, and in STEM more generally, or is the playing field level now? What do you think of efforts being made by big tech companies, e.g. Intel spending $300m on increasing diversity? Is that needed and if so what would you spend it on?
Re:You have got to be kidding me (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
BTW I own a tower in Paris that I will sell you at a favorable price.
Do you take US dollars? How many do you want? MMMmmm donuts...
Re: (Score:1)
Re: You have got to be kidding me (Score:3, Interesting)
Great point. Let's look at actions.
In 2010, a number of fellow UMiss alums recalled their impression of the person now calling themselves Brianna Wu. This is over 4 years before Brianna Wu was publicized in public media. They didn't even know about the existence of a person named "Brianna Wu".
In it, several recount the actions of John Flynt (who now goes by Brianna Wu). John Flynt at one point came into the student paper office, and when his comic strip was rejected, blew his lid. He called one woman a "fat
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
The only reference to this event I can find is the Lolcow Wiki, hardly a reliable source of information. It appears to be fabricated.
Would you care to provide solid evidence, or withdraw your accusation?
Re: (Score:3)
http://gamergate.community/t/b... [gamergate.community]
Re: (Score:2)
As expected, all we have are some anonymous forum posts. Somehow that counts as evidence now.
Well, I knew this guy "Anonymous Coward" back at school. It was a total dick-head, racist, sex offender who liked to drink his own urine (said it improved his health). Apparently that's a fact now.
Re: (Score:2)
Wu née M
It's 2015. I can copy and paste Emojis on facebook and Reddit and slashdot can't support character sets beyond American English? Come on.
Wu is part of the sausage fest (Score:2, Informative)
Wu is not a woman. [breitbart.com] and their birth name is John Flynt.
Re: (Score:1)
Wu is most certainly a woman, perhaps even legally. As to questions of her character, I've said many times that being a woman does not make one a good person. #include <stdlecture.h> Summary: if it looks like a woman and talks like a woman, well, it's a woman. (Disclaimer: you can't fool me. There are tons of ciswomen who've been whacked by the ugly stick, and my heart bleeds for them.)
Now, I've been thinking this thread over since I posted my questions. Wu is certainly an interesting character.
Re: (Score:1)
Ok, fine. She doesn't "pass" as well as I do. That's no fault of hers! Random fact time! Did you know that in a commercial a young Harisoo stared in, they actually had to photoshop in an Adam's apple?
The entire notion of passing is flawed. If we had a diagnostic test that could be used with children before the age of puberty, it would be a non-issue. "Passing" is entirely fucking tangential to the reason she's a woman.
-- kurenai.tsubasa
Captcha: embassy
Re: (Score:2)
Brianna Wu is a woman. If you can't accept that, then the problem is with you, and frankly you disgust me.
Re: You have got to be kidding me (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
Question for Ms. Wu: What can women do to be believed?
Re: (Score:2)
Use facts that can be proven. Leave faith to religions.
Women are not anymore or less "believed" or "not believed" than men. Humans in general are believed when they are using proven or provable facts. They are also "believed" when they build credibility based on a history of using such facts and truths in their discourse. This particular human being has not been truthful, thus her credibility is in the pits.
This has no link to gender. It's not about gender. People that make it about gender want to shi
Re:You have got to be kidding me (Score:4, Insightful)
she was caught faking her own harassment.
Re: (Score:2)
Related question: How is the criminal investigation into harassment going? Do you find law enforcement generally believes you, or do they accept the other side's claims that you ran an elaborate false flag operation against yourself? What kind of evidence is most effective, most likely to be understood and accepted? Can you recommend the best way to report criminal harassment?
Question for the GGers: If you have evidence of a false flag operation, why isn't there an on-going criminal investigation? At a mini
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
So the cops are part of the conspiracy pushing the SJW narrative? I had no idea the conspiracy ran so deep.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:You have got to be kidding me (Score:4, Informative)
How is the criminal investigation into harassment going?
Last I heard, that Mass. prosecutors office isn't too happy with Wu lying about filing court documents about the people harassing her. I always find it funny that people lie about things that are public records.
Do you find law enforcement generally believes you, or do they accept the other side's claims that you ran an elaborate false flag operation against yourself? What kind of evidence is most effective, most likely to be understood and accepted? Can you recommend the best way to report criminal harassment?
Oh, this stuff. The best way to report harassment? Actually go down to a court house and file paperwork. The only problem is that you can't file harassment reports when you are harassing yourself or when people disagree with you on the internet.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm deeply skeptical of that claim. The discussion here should explain why.
Re:You have got to be kidding me (Score:4, Insightful)
Disagreeing with Ms. Wu is not harassment.
Asking Ms. Wu hard questions is not harassment.
Informing people about Ms. Wu's potentially criminal fraud in regards to her business, her online ventures, and her faked harassment, as well as her history of using racial and homophobic epithets before her latest persona as a Third Wave Faux Feminist, is not harassment.
Criticism of Ms. Wu is not harassment.
Debate with Ms. Wu's supporters is not harassment.
NONE of the discussion here has been harassment. This is a public forum and if bringing up Ms. Wu's name causes an outcry of disgust, that is the price of being a professional victim and a "polarizing" personality on social media.
Harassment is not a catch all word meaning "someone was mean on the Internet." It is not a shield against any debate, criticism, or disagreement. Don't play into the professional victims like Ms. Wu trying to use it as such.
Re: (Score:2)
Who's taking about harassment? I'm clearly talking exclusively about the wacky claim made by the AC inexplicably modded +5, which seems to only be supported by a few crazy fringe sites.
By analogy, the AC is claiming we faked the moon landings, and you're talking about monuments on Mars.
Re:You have got to be kidding me (Score:5, Informative)
Who's taking about harassment? I'm clearly talking exclusively about the wacky claim made by the AC inexplicably modded +5, which seems to only be supported by a few crazy fringe sites.
By analogy, the AC is claiming we faked the moon landings, and you're talking about monuments on Mars.
And I was pointing out that your being skeptical of her faking her harassment is doubtful due to the comments in here doesn't mesh, as I haven't seen any harassment going on. Perhaps I jumped the gun.
It might also to have a bit of background: Ms. Wu specializes in antagonizing people, especially over social media, and then crying harassment whenever anyone takes the bait. She has been doing this for as long as I've been aware of her.
Given that this is the internet and it's trivial to make a twitter account, this usually invariably results in Ms. Wu getting some troll upset with her who will attempt to hurt her feelings based on any number of perceived weaknesses - doing so is not sexism. Indeed it would be the very definition of sexism to put on kid gloves just because of Wu's gender.
Ms. Wu has also admitted to creating twitter accounts to troll herself with, and some of the screenshots she has taken of this harassment are suspect -- for example, taking a screenshot within seconds of a tweet being posted, which is unlikely unless you are aware the tweet is about to be posted.
She then complains about this harassment publicly, links to her patreon page, and goes back to antagonizing people online. Pity farming or professional victimhood in a nuthsell. Granted, Ms. Wu is hardly alone, several of these fake feminist trolls have infested the Third Wave Feminism movement as of late, and are pushing a narrative of women being poor widdle fragile things that must be coddled and protected at all times because they're just so fragile.
Re: (Score:2)
Asking Ms. Wu hard questions is not harassment.
It is when the question is "what mental illness do you have?"
Informing people about Ms. Wu's potentially criminal fraud in regards to her business, her online ventures, and her faked harassment, as well as her history of using racial and homophobic epithets before her latest persona as a Third Wave Faux Feminist, is not harassment.
Conspiracy theories and unfounded accusations repeated over and over again in an attempt to disrupt a person's life is harassment. If you have evidence of criminal activity or racist/homophobic behaviour then the correct action is to report it to the police, not go for internet mob vigilante justice.
Re: (Score:2)
Conspiracy theories and unfounded accusations repeated over and over again in an attempt to disrupt a person's life is harassment.
Like calling large swats of people "Misogynists" because they disagree with women ? Because that's an unfounded accusation levied way to easily these days and has disrupted the life of many people for the only crime of not trusting a woman's or male feminist's words without proof.
Re:You have got to be kidding me (Score:4, Interesting)
I have no problem with asking a women in tech (even one that experienced an abnormal amount of ill will or perhaps even overt sexism) about their experiences and how being a woman has affected their career and how they look at the world of tech. Having a less masculine perspective is fine, I want women to feel welcome and their ideas represented... But my number one question in this case would have to be why THIS person?
Did Wu contact Slashdot first for some reason? If so, why? Was this meant to go well or did Wu intend on this going badly?
In the case that Slashdot contacted her, the same questions apply.
Of ALL the women, they chose one of the very few that would get the most adverse reaction possible at this time. If that isn't fishy, I don't know what would be.
Also, not posting as AC because I legitimately feel like these are important questions to ask. I don't know if this is malicious, or simply not thought through well.
Re: You have got to be kidding me (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Oh, I'm fine with Wu showing herself for the, dare I say "questionable" kind of person she really is. It's happened before and it'll probably happen again as long as it benefits her.
But that's the thing, it's like a drug. Causes a high, she gets off on it, along with her donations. And right now for all I know, she could be trying to snort a figurative line of coke off our collective tempers. Or at the very least trying to legitimize her more notable behavior by coming off as suddenly considerate and profes
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
At this point, any woman would garner an adverse reaction as strong as the one we're seeing here.
Still, Slashdot editors know that even mentioning women brings out the bottom 10% in full force. I have little doubt they were the first to initiate contact, knowing it would drive up traffic.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:You have got to be kidding me (Score:5, Interesting)
Regardless of what you believe Ms. Wu experienced, do you truly not know any women in software or gaming who've experienced the kind of awful "boy's only club" attitudes and sometimes downright literal sexual harassment?
regardless of which, supporting a scam artist is not helping your cause and will only serve to de-legitimize it.
Or mabey the body size shaming, ableism about mental health, and even classist attacks on the typical software engineer through the "neckbeard" stereotype don't help much. 10-15 years ago, this would most likely include some underhanded homophobic attack(i.e. 'question' their sexuality), and 5 years ago, some form of genderphobia would also be present.
Re: (Score:1)
I do not. I'm willing to believe, the attitudes exist — as do women-only [cnn.com] clubs [guestofaguest.com], but I don't see anything particularly wrong (as in "this must be illegal!") with them. Nor do I know a person with a claim of having been persecuted over being a woman supported better, than something I can claim on the basis of being a Ukrainian expatriate.
Re: (Score:1)
Considering that several prominent female vets of the gaming industry have came forward and dispelled the myth of the "boy's only club" (Creator of "legacy of kain" for starters) , the entire narrative is hogwash.
Re: (Score:2)
Considering that several prominent female vets of the gaming industry have came forward and dispelled the myth of the "boy's only club" (Creator of "legacy of kain" for starters) , the entire narrative is hogwash.
Finding a few examples of women doing well in the gaming industry does not prove it is not sexist, any more than Barack Obama being president proves there is no racism in the US.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Don't give Netflix any ideas. They've already given us genres like "Imaginitive Time Travel Movies from the 1980s"
Re: You have got to be kidding me (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: You have got to be kidding me (Score:4, Insightful)