One problem with discussing sexism is that it is boring. The same old silencing tactics and the same old feminism 101 discussions.
This has two problems:
- eventually feminists and allies burn out and remove themselves from discussions or entire geek communities
- trolls use "this is boring" as a silencing tactic
Examples[]
- Matthew Garrett posted about finding endless discussion of sexism in Open Source Software boring, if necessary: "I don't yearn for a future where open source development involves spending 25% of the time coding and 75% of the time where we have earnest conversations about the precise social nature of our utopian society... No. What I want is a future where I can say this person is being a dick... and not have to engage in lengthy explanations as to why before people agree. [1]
- One of his commenters nevertheless asked him to stop posting about it because it's boring: "Matthew, we get the point now." [2]