Gender-Fluid Geek Girls: Negotiating White Masculinity and Inequality in the Tech Industry

• In Event: 567 - Regular Session. Gender Inequality

Abstract

How do women who are technically skilled workers negotiate their presence in male-dominated technology firms? We examine this issue by drawing upon 40 in-depth interviews with tech workers—both men and women—who are employed in the San Francisco Bay Area tech industry. We argue that a spectrum of belonging operates in tech firms, enabling women who are gender fluid to be seen as “one of the guys.” Women who identified as bisexual, queer, or lesbian, and who cultivated a style of communication, dress and presentation that mirrored that of their White male peers were often able to symbolically stand in for men. They did not report experiences of micro-aggressions that were routine among women coded as conventionally feminine. We argue that the White and Asian-dominated institutional cultures of tech firms operate as a type of inequality regime, one in which women who can perform as symbolic men avoid being the targets of micro-aggressions and gender discrimination.

Authors

• Lauren Alfrey, University of Portland

• France Winddance Twine, University of California, Santa Barbara