Thank you for writing about social issues in Haskell; the community clearly needs more light here.
Although I don't interact with the Haskell community much these days (though I might again shortly due to a good opportunity), I stand in support of women and other marginalized groups and will speak up when I hear exclusive, objectifying, or marginalizing things (though sometimes it does take some processing time to recognize them as such... alas).
What I notice about the reddit thread is there is a lot of meaningless fighting. He's not sexist, I'm not sexist, you're sexist, that was sexist, that's not what I meant, fight fight fight. My world was opened when I learned the concept of solidarity, and that's an important component I feel is missing in threads like this. We are so busy fighting each other about who is wrong and who is right that we have no space left to focus on joining together to make it better.
I don't know if it is effective, but in this vein I strive to write all my comments in such "debates" to be re-centering and activating. "We all have this problem, we all want to make it better. Will you help me make it better by _____?" I blindly hope this works somewhat well for sympathetic parties who might otherwise argue. I have a harder time knowing how to engage with ignorant defenders of the powerful class... perhaps the same strategy, although it could be quite confrontational. "We want more women in Haskell. You can help by reading the male programmer privilege checklist and writing a reflection here; would you be willing to do that?"
At the very least, I do feel a power in constantly re-centering rather than engaging with arguments at face value. Less "you're wrong", more "here's what's important".
I've got your back
Although I don't interact with the Haskell community much these days (though I might again shortly due to a good opportunity), I stand in support of women and other marginalized groups and will speak up when I hear exclusive, objectifying, or marginalizing things (though sometimes it does take some processing time to recognize them as such... alas).
What I notice about the reddit thread is there is a lot of meaningless fighting. He's not sexist, I'm not sexist, you're sexist, that was sexist, that's not what I meant, fight fight fight. My world was opened when I learned the concept of solidarity, and that's an important component I feel is missing in threads like this. We are so busy fighting each other about who is wrong and who is right that we have no space left to focus on joining together to make it better.
I don't know if it is effective, but in this vein I strive to write all my comments in such "debates" to be re-centering and activating. "We all have this problem, we all want to make it better. Will you help me make it better by _____?" I blindly hope this works somewhat well for sympathetic parties who might otherwise argue. I have a harder time knowing how to engage with ignorant defenders of the powerful class... perhaps the same strategy, although it could be quite confrontational. "We want more women in Haskell. You can help by reading the male programmer privilege checklist and writing a reflection here; would you be willing to do that?"
At the very least, I do feel a power in constantly re-centering rather than engaging with arguments at face value. Less "you're wrong", more "here's what's important".