Resources for allies

A lot of people want to support women in geek communities, but aren't sure where to start, or don't know whether what they're doing is wanted or appreciated.

The following resources offer suggestions for how allies (including men) can support women in geek communities.

Basic concepts of feminism and anti-sexism in general

• Read up on Feminism 101
• Schrodinger's Rapist, or a guy's guide to approaching strange women without being maced
• Yes Means Yes blog
• Shakesville: Helpful Hints For Dudes series

Basic resources about women in geekdom (read these)

• How does biology explain the low numbers of women in computer science? Hint: it doesn't.
• Codes of Conduct 101 FAQ
• FLOSSPOLS (2002 demography study of open source community)
  • FLOSSPOLS - Integrated Report of Findings on Gender
  • FLOSSPOLS - Gender Policy Recommendations

Ally skills

• Learn about the dangers of Feminism 101 discussions and do your own reading and thinking and listening, rather than treating feminists as on-tap educators
• Avoid Elementary mistakes
  • Such as Bad sexism comebacks (there are also Good sexism comebacks)
• Don't Be That Guy by synecdochic
• Tools for White Guys who are Working for Social Change (and other people socialized in a society based on domination)
• 12 helpful suggestions for men regarding conduct in feminist spaces
• being an ally part 1: listening to anger
• The Do’s and Don’ts of Being a Good Ally from Angry Black Woman.
• So you want to be an ally by Julie Pagano
• "True solidarity means supporting the work of those you’re allying yourself to ..."
• Some articles about ally anti-patterns/ally smells:
  • Bad Ally Quiz
  • Ally smells: fear of speaking up
  • Ally smells: appropriation
  • Ally smells: boundaries

Men: things they can do, etc

• Tony Porter: A Call to Men (TED talk video)
• Words are not fists: some thoughts on how men work to defuse feminist anger
• The quagmire of masculinity by Robert Jensen (and other Robert Jensen articles)
• Feministe Feedback: Being a Feminist Boyfriend
• Deconstruction: How To Be A (Male) Ally
• Stuff What Boys Can Do: Harriet over at Fugitivus is collecting "examples, anecdotes, and stories...for men that want to help but don’t know what to do."
• Practical Steps You Can Take To Reduce Sexism in Economics
• Jason Katz on masculinity and overcoming bystander culture (TED talk video)
• Men Speak Up, a detailed report on what men can do in their daily lives to address violence against women

Understanding privilege

• Privilege checklist - includes links to various privilege checklists
• “Check my what?” On privilege and what we can do about it
• Men, Feminism Needs You! (Not Your Privilege)
• Comrade PhysioProf's Handy-Dandy Guide For D00dly Commenters - advice particularly relevant to blogs and comments
• Rape Culture 101 - Understanding Rape Culture
• Nerds and Male Privilege , Part 2
• Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is
• True solidarity: Moving past privilege guilt

Supporting women in geek communities

• Look at how best to recruit women to your project and how to promote communities, events and products.
• Consider how to run women-friendly events.
• Interacting with women.
• Learn about why women are a numerical minority in many geeky careers.
• HOWTO Encourage Women in Linux by Valerie Aurora
• How not to be a dick - a live video rant by Matthew Garrett (transcription available at Hoyden About Town)
• Ten easy ways to attract women to your free software project (note that this article contains a lot of un-examined gender essentialism; you may wish to read it with a critical eye, and consider how much you agree with what is described there.)
• What some folks can do, if they choose by Dorothea Salo, a description of possible helpful responses to sexism that men could make
• Dave Neary on shutting up more in meetings (inspired by a Dan Spalding piece )
• Refuse to speak on all male panels
• How to give a Gender Inclusive IT presentation by Jenna Gretsch

Other Resources

• NASCO Action Camp Ally Workshop Packet (pdf)

See also

• Intersectionality for information on axes of oppression other than sexism and how they interact.
• Feminism 101 for a non-gender specific overview of introductory material on this wiki.
• Allies for discussion of feminist men.