I decided that I wanted to look up blogs related to feminism and technology, as I’m interested in both of these things. With the prospect of finding more varied work as a writer, I wanted some inspiration. I wanted to be reminded that I am great and in fantastic technological company. I was looking for  something like The Ada Initiative, which describes itself perfectly:

The Ada Initiative is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing
participation of women in open technology and culture, which includes
open source software, Wikipedia and other open data, and open social
media.

Hells to the yes. So I hop over to The Google and get my search on. What I encounter is first a website called Feminist Approach to Technology, which is great but isn’t really a blog and is a group based in India — I’m not sure I can identify with it culturally. And then I came across a website called “Pro-Male/Anti-Feminist Technology.” I sort of eyeball it — is it saying that technology is inherently anti-feminist? So I click.

I am sorry I did. I’m not going to link to this website — it is so against my values, with this simple thesis: “I’m a mens’ rights blogger that has realized that technology is the key to defeating feminism and their allies.”

I’ve heard about Men’s Rights Activists. I can even understand the mentality; it would be foolish to pretend that there aren’t men taken advantage of in the world as well, or that there aren’t subsets of feminism that do exclude them. We have a tall order in created a world where we’re all equal without regard to gender. That said, I do genuinely believe that women have a lot more ground to cover in terms of equality in walks of life — personal and professional. Also, there’s a big difference between championing truly equal rights (which I’m for) and the toxicity I’ve read on a handful of these MRA blogs in the past forty-five minutes.

I’m just boggled. I could elaborate on it, I suppose, but I don’t want to spread the hate. I do want to say that with all things — be it feminism, parenting, environmentalism, or political — we have to choose who we ally with carefully, be it by linking or by reading. For instance, not every parenting blog meets my ideals. Association says a lot about us.

In the mean time, I did find exactly what I was looking for: Geek Feminism. I’m looking forward to following the blog and seeing what I learn.