8008S in Episode 24

[steven]

Episode 24 included an obviously sarcastic suggestion of “boobs” as a discussion point. I’m not a prude, but this is a good example of another small way in which women can be made to feel unwelcome in the world of software and open-source/culture.

This was an extremely mild comment - it wasn’t even really suggestive or sexual - just goofy in a 4th-grade kind of way. Still, would you have made the comment if there had been a woman on the show? I’ve been trying to ask my self this question lately, and I surprise myself how often the answer is ‘no’.

Of course my first feedback is critical, but I do enjoy the show. Cheers.

[sil]

You are correct, and I wish we hadn’t said it.

[steven]

As I like to say, the important thing is that you feel bad.

[jonobacon]

Episode 24 included an obviously sarcastic suggestion of “boobs” as a discussion point. I’m not a prude, but this is a good example of another small way in which women can be made to feel unwelcome in the world of software and open-source/culture.

Thanks @steven, for the feedback, but I respectfully disagree. I think we need to get away from this notion that just saying a word somehow makes an environment unwelcome.

@bryanlunduke quite obviously made a joke about a segment on boobs and it was neither suggestive, sexual, targeted at an individual, or discriminatory. It was merely a joke about boobs. I think if someone wouldn’t want to listen to the show with a comment so mild and so inoffensive, I don’t think Bad Voltage is for them…there will be something else that is bound to upset them.

Now, if the word was used in a more personalized, pejorative, or derogatory setting, I would agree. If @bryanlunduke had said:

I want INSERT NAME to show us her boobs.

or in an interview…

Will you send us a picture of your boobs

or something else, I would agree that this would have definitely overstepped the mark, and in fact we would have stopped the recording and never put it in the show.

Rest assured, we want the show to be welcome to everyone, but we also don’t want to be too sensitive to offensive to make it bland and uninteresting.

[LinuxJedi]

For equality’s sake you can make it about Moobs as well

[LinuxJedi]

Also, when is the 2015 topless calendar of Bad Voltage presenters coming out?

[jonobacon]

Also, when is the 2015 topless calendar of Bad Voltage presenters coming out?

[Ld00d]

Thanks @steven, for the feedback, but I respectfully disagree. I think we need to get away from this notion that just saying a word somehow makes an environment unwelcome.

@bryanlunduke quite obviously made a joke about a segment on boobs and it was neither suggestive, sexual, targeted at an individual, or discriminatory. It was merely a joke about boobs. I think if someone wouldn’t want to listen to the show with a comment so mild and so inoffensive, I don’t think Bad Voltage is for them…there will be something else that is bound to upset them.

When I was listening (on the Bad Voltage iOS app ® ), I found it particularly cringe worthy. While I’m guilty (often) of objectifying women or female body parts without regard to the whole or the soul, it seemed particularly off-topic and seemed to exclude women (at least heterosexual women) from the target audience.

[LinuxJedi]

When I was listening (on the Bad Voltage iOS app ® ), I found it particularly cringe worthy. While I’m guilty (often) of objectifying women or female body parts without regard to the whole or the soul, it seemed particularly off-topic and seemed to exclude women (at least heterosexual women) from the target audience.

Why does a potential segment (which doesn’t exist) about boobs exclude heterosexual women (and in that case why not homosexual women)? Does a segment about Adam’s apples exclude men?

In fact the potential segment was so vague it could have been about idiots (one of the other definitions of boobs). They could even have a segment on Dicks that talks about people called Richard (such as Stallman).

[Ld00d]

Heh.

[bryanlunduke]

So many thoughts swirling around in this tiny little head of mine. Here we go. Rapid-fire response time!

1. The title of this thread filled my heard with gladness. It took away all my sadness. It eased my troubles. That’s what it did.

2. Boobs are awesome. Anyone who dislikes the idea of “Boobs” as a segment hates boobs. Those people are what we call “Boob-haters”.

3. Note that I’m not specifically singling out women or men. Both sexes have boobs. In fact mine have grown noticeably bigger recently. A fact which both saddens me… and fills me with a sense of awe and wonder.

4. Mentioning a body part should not make a person, who happens to possess said body part, feel unwelcome. Case in point: Testicles. I have no actual data to back this up, but I’m pretty sure we’ve mentioned testicles (by various means) in Bad Voltage at least 17 thousand times. And, yet, look at all the dudes in here.

5. I did not, as @LinuxJedi suggested, mean to imply this was a segment about “idiots”. I wasn’t thinking of that kind of boob. I was thinking of the front-front chesty-chesty kind. But, in hindsight, this sort of thinking was limiting the awesome potential of the “boobs” segment. I should have included all various meanings of the word from the very beginning. I have rectified this.

6. I sincerely hope I did not offend or make anyone feel unwelcome with that “rectified” comment. It would clearly make some uncomfortable, no matter how on the nose it was.

7. I would also like to apologize for my previous – extremely careless – usage of “nose”. I feel truly bad that I may have made many of our nosed listeners feel uncomfortable or looked down upon because of my careless remark. Jeeze. Writing this post is turning into a real eye opening experience for me.

8. Dammit. Did it again.

[LinuxJedi]

3. Note that I’m not specifically singling out women or men. Both sexes have boobs. In fact mine have grown noticeably bigger recently. A fact which both saddens me… and fills me with a sense of awe and wonder.

If you don’t believe him, the selfies have been leaked from iCloud

[jonobacon]

If you don’t believe him, the selfies have been leaked from iCloud

Please…for the love of kittens…no-one post an image of a dude with moobs with Bryan’s face shopped on there…I really don’t want to see that.

[LinuxJedi]

Damnit! (closes gimp)

[bryanlunduke]

Dammit! (closes gimp)

[WarrenHill]

Dammit! (closes gimp)

Why - what’s wrong with a selfie?

[b1ackcr0w]

For me, when we’ve ended: Female genital mutilation, rape, gender pay inequality, the glass ceiling, human trafficking funded by prostitution and Rush Limbaugh; then and only then am I willing to entertain a conversation about the word boobs on a calculator.

[LinuxJedi]

For me, when we’ve ended: Female genital mutilation, rape, gender pay inequality, the glass ceiling, human trafficking funded by prostitution and Rush Limbaugh; then and only then am I willing to entertain a conversation about the word boobs on a calculator.

That is a lot of stuff for one small podcast to fix.

[bryanlunduke]

That is a lot of stuff for one small podcast to fix.

Maybe for Adam Corolla. But not for Bad Voltage. We got this.

[oldgeek]

I always thought it odd that there is a different reaction when it is men that say something that might seem to be sexist and if women do the same thing.