With more people joining Lemmy and other decentralised networks there is a growing shift to the common misogyny and sexism we find on other social media networks (YouTube, Reddit, etc.).
I think it’s pretty obvious that the reason is that there are even less women here than other places online. What are your ideas on how to change that? Or do you feel it is a lost cause?
It’s because we are in deep tech/programming territory here where you traditionally find less women. I do think it is shifting a lot recently, and find Lemmy fairly mild in terms of misogyny. But then I also actively avoid communities where dudebros tend to flock and be all rational and such.
Of course there’s always more work to do. More women mods, more women led communities, as others have said. Maybe downvoting and reporting instead of blocking sexists. Calling people out on their shit, making women feel protected.
I think in part this topic is also because I try to encourage more women to be active in techy places. I am always motivated to think about ways on how to bring more diverse people into tech hobbies like programming. It’s what I do at university with activities for IT newbies.
And I got the impression that especially women, LGBTQ and minority people feel more safe to try out these stuff when the instructors are women and it seems to have a low barrier. There is a lot of “I am too dumb for this” from internalized stereotypes and I think that’s going on with the Fediverse as well.
I hear you. I have always been doing tech stuff (from DIY to IT) as a hobby, and it has been frustrating to be surrounded by guys only. And I only got into the DIY because I was interested and had male friends who weren’t dismissive. I built my first tiny house with 18. I’ve been flying racing drones. At the same time, falling back into ‘I can’t really’ happens to me really easily, because it’s so very ingrained. That’s why we have to continue struggling, and making a fuss about it, and make spaces where girls and women can experiment with tools and tech, and give them room to get good - because often when boys are present they take the tools and do the thing - maybe even in an attempt to be helpful, but still. I’ve always wanted to organize DIY courses for women, maybe I should go haunt the local school or something.