Subject: Re: (news) Berst on "girls on the web"
Wed Apr 29 14:06:48 1998



>
>  SHOULD WE LET GIRLS ON OUR WEB?
>


'our'?

somebody kindly point to a time in the web's history (well,
after Tim Berners-Lee and Marc Andreesen told somebody else
about it) when the term 'our web' had any definable meaning.  
that's what makes the web so much fun.. it's the multi-terabyte
bastard child of a kaleidoscope and a Rorschach test.   no two
people ever see the same thing, and nobody sees the same thing
twice.


that said, my answer to the question is:  "hell no".

the very structure of the question carries a patronizing (and
completely false) assumption of power and control.   anyone
willing to play by those rules really does deserve to be stomped
into oblivion, because they're either being stupid, as in:

   "i've heard that three card monte is a street-corner hustle, but
    i'll give it a shot anyway."

or a parasite, as in:

   "i didn't create any of this, but i've decided to look at it.
    therefore, the person who *did* create it is morally obliged to 
    arrange things the way i want them."


i'm just not enough of a misogynist to believe either of those
things about women in general.


if women want to establish a presence on the web, let 'em do it
the same way the rest of the web has been built:   putting up
the information they want to see if they can't find it anywhere
else, and annexing anything they find interesting by becoming
actively involved in it.   there's not a damn thing any 'guy'
can do to stop the first, and the second can only become a
battle by mutual consent.

i accept anyone who plays by those rules as a peer.. man, woman,
cat, dog, machine intelligence, dolphin, gorilla.. whatever.  
they're fellow homesteaders on the information frontier, and
i'll show 'their' web the same respect i expect them to show
'mine'.

for the sake of reference:

    http://www.heartless-bitches.com/

it's sure as heck not mine, but i love the mindset and the
manifesto.   i also consider it perhaps the best use of animated
GIFs & javascript rollovers i've ever seen on the web.