Physical violence

Women in geek communities are sometimes the victims of threatened or actual physical violence, ranging from assault to rape or even murder.

Mental illness

A woman that is diagnosed with a mental illness, or misdiagnosed in retaliation, may face many obstacles defending herself against an attacker. People with mental illnesses are stigmatized as being dangerous. Therefore, members of the public may assume that she was the one that initiated the confrontation, particularly if the attacker has an image of being an upstanding citizen. She may also be reluctant to report an attack and initiate court proceedings if she is mentally ill on paper.

Note: It is not a victim's responsibility to take self-defense classes to prevent her own victimization. However, if she does so, she may not be able to put what she learns into practice.

Given the low conviction rates after rape trials, she may decide that reporting an assault to law enforcement is not worth the trouble due to the lack of evidence. Moreover, depending on the type of high-impact martial art she learned, she risks being charged with assault if she leaves any bruises on her attacker. Low-impact grappling arts that rely on regular practice and muscle memory may circumvent this risk, but usually they require considerably more time and repetition to master than high-impact martial arts, and many geek women may not have the time.

Incidents

Threats

Against geek women

• Kathy Sierra incident
• MikeeUSA's activities:
  • Debian and LinuxChix harassment
  • Further threats during the 2009 women in FLOSS discussions

Actual physical violence

Against geek women

• École Polytechnique massacre -- 28 women shot, 14 killed, at an engineering school
• Murder of Annie Le -- Doctoral pharmacy student murdered on campus at Yale University

By geek men against non-geek women

• Hans Reiser's murder of his wife