Frances Bell’s Blog

http://www.knowandnetwork.org/francesbell/weblog/28.html

This article indicates that women are driven out of public spaces online by sexual threats.?

“Robert Scoble, a technology blogger who took a week off in solidarity with Sierra, said women have told him that harassment is a “disincentive” to participate online. That, he said, will affect their job prospects in the male-dominated tech industry. “If women aren’t willing to show up for networking events, either offline or online, then they’re never going to be included in the industry,” he said.”

Interestingly, this response puts the onus on women to keep participating despite harassment, to save their job prospects. Another case shows us that women’s job prospects may be damaged through no action of their own.

Christopher Sessums pointed out? a recent case of a young woman denied an education degree because of a photo, entitled ‘Drunken Pirate’, on her MySpace.?

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So how are women (and men)? to deal with the prospect of some future employer googling their name only to find evidence of youthful indiscretion, or malicious lies.? As individuals we could try to be more discreet - as employers, we could refrain from cyberstalking.? What do you think?

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