1. Most women are drawn to Extropian and Transhumanist ideas for the
exact same reason the men are, and we would all make a lot more
progress on shared ideas by assuming that everyone is here as
intellectual explorers.
2. I was the first woman to post to the Transhumanist list run by
Alex Bokov, and no fewer than fifteen men told me, in no uncertain
terms, that they didn't want girls in their sandbox. Two of them
petitioned Alex to remove me from the list, and this caused the mother
of all internet fights, for about two weeks. Alex, Rich, Anders, and
many other men went to bat for me because I couldn't fight it alone.
The thread remains in the archives as a badge of shame for all
transhumanists.
3. I have, over the past two years, received many notes from women
who have lurked on the two lists for awhile, and then left. Their
reasons varied, but most stated that they saw strong expressions of
mysogyny on the lists. Some of them were receiving very rude come-ons
from guys on the list, some were treated like they didn't have a
brain in their head. I think that if guys are going to
complain about the lack of women on the lists, you should take a minute
to think about what you are personally doing to make them feel welcome
here.
It's up to you!
Kathryn