Good on you for hanging tough despite the critisism and controversy. You have my full support.
I don't know any woman who is considered "good looking", working in a professional career of any kind, who hasn't been treated like an airhead because they look ok. It still annoys me that people's jaws hit the floor when you say something intelligent. And I still see it with my daughter. I'm not a very aggressive person by any stretch of the imagination but I'd still like to wallop people who dismiss her abilities because she's a girl (she's a tomboy that lives and competes in a boys world). Fortunately she has a knack for turning her biggest opponents into her biggest fans with no assistance required from me! But she shouldn't have to work that hard for it, she shouldn't have to fight for it every time. :(
I'm astounded by the controversy around the calendar myself. I thought our society was more mature than that. It honestly never occurred to me that it would be in any way controversial - it's a bunch of women having a bit of fun to generate funds for a good cause. Where’s everyone’s sense of humour gone?
It was never the images themselves that were intended to inspire young women, it’s the biographies. Has anyone out there actually read them?
I always thought of the "Goddess" aspect as being in relation to the abilities and careers, not looks. Guess I'm more naive than I thought. These are, after all, real women with real careers, not professional models and I for one resent being judged on the physical appearance alone.
Whilst the outrage has certainly generated more publicity than we anticipated, it would be nice if the attention was about celebrating the ability of women to push through those preconceptions and be stars in their chosen careers, rather than about 2 or 3 shots out of 16 that show a bit of flesh.
I don't think any of us felt we were there for our looks, we were there because we are in the IT industry, both core and peripheral, and we wanted to make a difference for other women coming after us and show them that you can be a woman with a satisfying career in IT without having to be masculine or a stereotypical nerd. There will always be the hard core “nerds”, (and THEY should be celebrated for being themselves) but young girls shouldn’t think that they HAVE to be like that to have a career in IT.
Good on you for hanging tough despite the critisism and controversy. You have my full support.
I don't know any woman who is considered "good looking", working in a professional career of any kind, who hasn't been treated like an airhead because they look ok. It still annoys me that people's jaws hit the floor when you say something intelligent. And I still see it with my daughter. I'm not a very aggressive person by any stretch of the imagination but I'd still like to wallop people who dismiss her abilities because she's a girl (she's a tomboy that lives and competes in a boys world). Fortunately she has a knack for turning her biggest opponents into her biggest fans with no assistance required from me! But she shouldn't have to work that hard for it, she shouldn't have to fight for it every time. :(
I'm astounded by the controversy around the calendar myself. I thought our society was more mature than that. It honestly never occurred to me that it would be in any way controversial - it's a bunch of women having a bit of fun to generate funds for a good cause. Where’s everyone’s sense of humour gone?
It was never the images themselves that were intended to inspire young women, it’s the biographies. Has anyone out there actually read them?
I always thought of the "Goddess" aspect as being in relation to the abilities and careers, not looks. Guess I'm more naive than I thought. These are, after all, real women with real careers, not professional models and I for one resent being judged on the physical appearance alone.
Whilst the outrage has certainly generated more publicity than we anticipated, it would be nice if the attention was about celebrating the ability of women to push through those preconceptions and be stars in their chosen careers, rather than about 2 or 3 shots out of 16 that show a bit of flesh.
I don't think any of us felt we were there for our looks, we were there because we are in the IT industry, both core and peripheral, and we wanted to make a difference for other women coming after us and show them that you can be a woman with a satisfying career in IT without having to be masculine or a stereotypical nerd. There will always be the hard core “nerds”, (and THEY should be celebrated for being themselves) but young girls shouldn’t think that they HAVE to be like that to have a career in IT.
Jane Long
Calendar designer and model