Interview: Ask Limor Fried About Open-Source Hardware and Adafruit 139
With her signature pink hair, MIT engineer Limor Fried has become a force in the maker movement. Last year she was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year by Entrepreneur Magazine, and her company, Adafruit Industries, did $10 million in sales. Limor has agreed to take some time away from soldering and running a new company to answer your questions about hardware, electronics, and Adafruit. As usual, ask as many as you'd like, but please, one question per post.
Re:Successful because or despite being a woman? (Score:4, Insightful)
And does it bug you that a short paragraph introducing you leads with a cosmetic characteristic? Or, given that said characteristic is something unusual and deliberate, is that kind of what you're looking for?
Re:My Hero (Score:5, Insightful)
I just had to post this. Limor Fried is a cute, smart, hardware hacking, gadgeteering, successful entrepreneur chick. Pretty much most geeks dream girl. You go girl!
Speaking as a woman in IT, and a tinkerer myself, I can tell you what would be better appreciated than a "You go girl". Not making references to her being a "dream girl" and taking her as seriously as you would a man. She's a businesswoman now, running a multi-million dollar business with a lot of potential for expansion. You wouldn't tell a man in that position "... successful entrepreneur hunk. You're most geeks dream man! You go man!" You may not have intended to, but you just degraded her under the guise of a compliment; You have said her accomplishments only add value if she's attractive to the opposite sex.
If you want to compliment her for real; Why don't you express respect for her accomplishment, and leave her sexual attractiveness off the table?
Re:My Hero (Score:2, Insightful)
"taking her as seriously as you would a man."
You girls CLAIM that you want to be treated like men. Alright - so - I've just met one of my buddies whom I haven't met in years, and found he's successful.
"Hey, Dilrod - how ya doin?"
"Not bad, Queerbait, how bout you?"
"Oh, I'm running my own business now, doing about ten mil a year!"
"Not true! NO ONE earns ten mil on their knees, even in Washington!"
"You're just jealous - you only earn five mil on your knees."
If we talked to women the same way we talk among ourselves, the women would either cry their eyes out, or pull a gun and start shooting. You could HOPE that we just grew up, but it ain't happening.
Re:My Hero (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh, get off your high horse. If Wozniak looked like some movie star and a woman said "Wow, looks and brains AND money!" would you excoriate her like that?
Somehow I doubt it.
Re:First the hair (Score:5, Insightful)
I think so. See Mohawk Guy on the Mars Pathfinder project.
Re:My Hero (Score:4, Insightful)
I happen to be bisexual. I notice, and comment, relatively politely (depending on company) on the looks of both sexes. I have a co-worker who is gay. I tell him good job cutie all the time (and he says similar), even though there is nothing relationshipwise between us (we are both otherwise involved). We are both fine with this, and if we weren't hopefully one of us would say something
I would much rather live in a world we we can stop pretending our genitals do not exist. Certainly things can be taken to the point where people are uncomfortable or harassed, and that is unique to each circumstance, and needs to be dealt with appropriately. However, wouldn't it be nice to be able to chest bump a guy without fear that he would take it as a come-on because your breasts touched him, or do a football ass smack without connotation (unless it was desired as such)?
I do have much respect for her accomplishments, regardless of how she looks, the fact that I called her cute, or female, or a dream girl adds rarity and value to her accomplishments in my opinion and does not detract from it. Now if I had said something overtly sexual and crude you may have a point, but that pseudo-feminist crap has echos of our overtly puritanical (and hypocritical) culture that would have us all asexual and demote sex just a bodily function that needs to be endured if it were taken to its ultimate end.