At Linuxcon 2009, Mark Shuttleworth, founder and Supreme Benevolent Dictator For Life of the Ubuntu Linux project gave the keynote address. He said, in part, that the Linux community's work was “hard to explain to girls”.
So simple, your grandmother could do it also featured.
Video of the talk was streamed live, so some people heard it who were not physically present at the event. However, non-live video is not (yet) available.
Issues
Shuttleworth's comments were examples of the following issues:
- Condescension -- use of the term "girls" instead of "women" treats women in a condescending and infantilising way.
- Othering -- the comments set "geeks" and "girls" as two separate groups, with "girls" as the Other.
- Invisibility -- ignored the fact that many women are involved in Linux, or were in the keynote session at the time.
Responses
- Dent by emmajanedotnet during the speech
- Open Letter to Mark Shuttleworth
- On keynotes and apologies by Chris Ball
- Sexism debate by Adam Williamson
- Is the founder of Ubuntu a male chauvinist?
- Boycott Ubuntu (TuxMachines)
- Do not boycott Ubuntu
- Hide of a rhino or constitution of a psychopath by Brenda Wallace