And people still ask why women feel marginalised in the geek community

[major_clanger]

A few days ago I had an email from 'Adapterz LLC' pointing me to this site and mentioning that my paper on IP and 3D printing had been cited as an inspiration:

The Free Universal Constructor Kit

In a nutshell, this group are creating 3D design files to allow you to print parts that connect one constructor set to another.

I commented on the site to say that (a) it was nice to see my work being cited, (b) they should probably be careful not to assume that the relevant bit of law was simple or universally applicable, and (c) that I agreed with some other comments to the effect that their name was not very clever.

I got a reply by email from a Golan Levin saying, in part,

Regarding the name of the project: it is part of our media strategy, which is to say, it has been instrumental in raising awareness about the project (and the issues it raises about 3d printing, IP, etc.). Metaphorically the name relates well to the notion of mating parts, especially across species. We wholly concur that it is juvenile, but respectfully disagree that this is a bad thing, or that another name would serve the project better. Anyway -- we hope we can agree to disagree about this. You will notice that we never refer to the project by its acronym.

To which I responded:

In terms of the name of the project, I would ask you this: do you really want to put off that large part of the maker community who happen to be female? A lot of male geeks tend to laugh off use of sexually-loaded language and assume that anyone who is offended by it is merely being prudish. Unfortunately many women experience such language mainly in the form of insults or offensive comments and are much less likely to take it as a joke. I see from your website that your team is almost entirely young and male and I would ask you to reflect on whether your 'media strategy' needs considering from outside your very narrow demographic.

That was nearly a week ago. Not surprisingly I never got a reply.

Comments

[whotheheckami.livejournal.com]

And not just females. I would be discouraged from having anything to do with a company/organisation that went to market with such an offensive acronym. To my mind it would be indicative of a lack of standards of any sort within their organisation

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

Well done for standing up to this way of thinking. I've long been resigned to it, but your example shows that I needn't be.

[anef.livejournal.com]

I'm not a geek, but I don't find it offensive so much as stupid and juvenile. If I were a potential investor/business associate I wouldn't take it seriously.

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

Somehow I missed the acronym. You're right, it's not appropriate.

It just adds to the raucous white noise of background sexism in this industry.

[uitlander]

What a bunch of fuckwits.

[davidwake.livejournal.com]

Surely this is mostly aimed at children, so the acronym is just dumb.

And it's not 'free' given that you have to pay for the plastic.

[history-monk.livejournal.com]

"Free" seems to be a political rather than economic expression here, in that the kit is free of IP restrictions. At least, that's the idea. The acronym may annoy the companies that produce the construction kits that this works with enough that they try harder to find legal grounds for action, but probably not.

The acronym also keeps the kit from being sold at retail. That's probably deliberate; the idea is to be part of the 3D printer revolution that will overturn normal retailing and create a utopia of people designing and making all their own material goods. Which makes a lot more sense if you don't buy much of your own food or clothing. SF fans like us tend to have a more ... nuanced ... view of Utopian ideals than people who have just grabbed onto one idea and are engaged in believing it.

However, there's nothing to keep someone else from doing the same thing with a sensible name.

[davidwake.livejournal.com]

Your most important point here is that we need a more nuanced Utopia. There does need to a a new economic model in this internet age to allow people to make a living from being creative.

[history-monk.livejournal.com]

A single new economic model is being too ambitious. We probably need lots of them. It's possible to make a living, for example, offering webcomics in free serialisation on the web, and selling collected volumes and supporting merchandise. You have to do it well and work hard, but it's possible.

However, that model that doesn't work at all for live theatre.

[andrewducker]

Fortunately, live theatre is not something you'll be able to clone until we have robots that can act. Probably still a few years off :->

(Also, almost all theatre is subsidised. The business model only really works at the top end.)

[davidwake.livejournal.com]

The theatre I do isn't free universal connector kitting subsidised!!!

[robert-jones.livejournal.com]

Quite a lot of (professional) theatre is subsidised, but not "almost all".

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I've just left a couple of comments pointing out that they will probably not be getting much support from (a) the hobby games industry and (b) educators - who might otherwise be very interested in this project as a practical use of 3D printing that will appeal to kids - because they simply don't need the crap that they will get from parents etc. if they publicise it.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Headdesk

[gnommi.livejournal.com]

As a female scientist, I kinda think it's a juvenile acronym and probably cuts them out from several markets, but I don't see it as sexist per se. But then maybe I'm a bit "laddish" and maybe I've been lucky never to have felt discriminated against because of my gender at any time in my (male dominated) field.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, I'm much the same. I think it's a stupid marketing move, and unprofessional, because it cuts them off from educational usage and will put off a lot of people, but the idea that sexual jokes are automatically anti-woman is one that I find ridiculous and bordering on offensive (having known many women that make that kind of joke).

[gnommi.livejournal.com]

yeah I'm with you to be honest, I mean I am as guilty of using bad language as anyone I work with, if not more! And I don't think it's because I feel the need to out-balls anyone to hold my rank or anything, I think I might just be a slightly vulgar human being ;P

[davidwake.livejournal.com]

They are really cutting their market down because schools are the first places that are getting the 3-D printers.

And nurseries that can now combine all their bits and pieces without the need to separate it into different groups.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, it's a really stupid move on their behalf.

[biascut.livejournal.com]

I'm definitely not laddish, but yeah, I don't really see it as sexist so much as puerile. Having said that, isn't "puerile" from the Latin for school boy? So yeah, not so much as anti-woman as indicative of a culture of unleavened tedious little boys.

[a-cubed.livejournal.com]

So, all the people who have a problem with them have never bought anything at French Connection UK stores, then?
I haven't, but not because of the name, but because they never stocked anything I thought was worth the money.

[brixtonbrood.livejournal.com]

I've never bought anything at French Connection, and yes, specifically because of the name - I'm not offended, and actually I don't think it's sexist, but I think it's annoying, childish and self-satisfied, and by buying their clothing I'd have been buying into one of the most irritating marketing campaigns ever.

Re this thing, I don't think it's sexist either, but it is bloody stupid, because I'm sure there's a load of imaginative secondary school teachers who'd like to play with this stuff with their pupils and won't be able to.

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

I think the problem here is not so much the name, but as part of a series of recent events that have shown that there is a lot of background (and probably unconcious) sexism in the technology industry which is causing woman to avoid tech as a career - and that's led a lot of people to realise that the only way to deal with it is to stand up and point it out.

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

I think fcuk is a clever twist and actively approve :-)

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

They won't be able to trade mark it or get a domain name either surely? (Tho someone in fact told me only yesteday he had bugger.me.uk and fuck.me.uk..)

[hairyears.livejournal.com]

Gender exclusion: an issue that needs unending effort. Whatever, whenever, some idiot will repeat the stupidity.