“Free as in sexist?” Free culture and the gender gap

an article by Joseph Reagle (Northeastern University and Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard) published in First Monday Volume 18 Number 1 (January 2013)

Abstract

Despite the values of freedom and openness, the free culture movement’s gender balance is as skewed (or more so) as that of the computing culture from which it arose. Based on the collection and analysis of discourse on gender and sexism within this movement over a six–year period, I suggest three possible causes:

1. some geek identities can be narrow and unappealing;
2. open communities are especially susceptible to difficult people; and,
3. the ideas of freedom and openness can be used to dismiss concerns and rationalize the gender gap as a matter of preference and choice.

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