My Opinion on Dig a Tech Girl

I graduated in 2005 from Simmons College, an all womens private liberal arts school in Boston.  I take pride in being a strong, independent, smart and capable woman.  I demand respect and DO NOT put up with being solely thought of, or looked at, like a sex object.  I demand respect.   

With that said, I like being a woman. I like when I am desired, I like being thought of as pretty and I like being a nice and sweet lady.  To me being HOT is way more than a tiny waist and shiny hair, it's having confidence in what you think, what you say and what you do, as well as being confident how you look. 

I think the Dig a Tech Girl site is great (not only because I am kicking ass in votes *thank you friends) but because there are really impressive women on there, who are smart and work really hard to be where they are in a predominately male industry.  Their physical features may get them some initial attention, but it is their smarts, personality and extremely hard work ethic that make them desirable.  And not only to men, but women as well. There are girls on the site where I think, wow I would love to be in their presence and not because they are hot, but because they are kicking ass, looking good and being taken seriously.

I understand people's dislike for the concept of Dig a Tech Girl, but I don't see it as your typical beauty contest. Any female in Tech can be nominated and you can vote for everyone if you want (which I have done).  Techie girls rule and I don't think the Dig a Tech Girl site portray's us unfairly or as sex objects. But that is my opinion, and I know not everyone feels that way.

Me feeling smart and famous.

Comments

[David Fisher]

I totally agree. I'll cut in my response that I posted to chelpixie's blog post about digatechgirl:

" I honestly have to say that I think the site is just in pure fun. I don’t think that the site is just a beauty contest. It does mention what each of them do, and what they do has a lot to do with the votes. One person having 2x as many votes as the next doesn’t mean anything asides that the person has a great social network of friends that find that person awesome. I’m guessing that 90% of the votes are from people that personally know that person. Of course I’m going to vote for my friends. The people I know on there aren’t just some beautiful bimbos, but some of the most highly intelligent AND beautiful women I know.

We can try to tell ourselves that beauty doesn’t have anything to do with success, but in all honesty it doesn’t hurt at least. Sex sells. Many of our jobs involve some sort of convincing/selling, and having the sexuality side down really helps! I know I am personally more effective at communication and business relationships when I look better. It all still comes down to working hard. I know at least one person on there works at least 70 hours a week.

It’s not sexist at all. While less trafficked, there is a digatechguy.com as well. I’m actually going to get myself on there later and see if I can beat Larry Ellison.

Why is it wrong to appreciate external AND internal qualities of a person?

If anything I see that page as a page of women that I would love to get to know. That’s the type of person I want to be around. Someone that’s doing something, making things happen, and looking damn good while doing it. Looking good takes work too!

I know where you’re coming from and appreciate your opinion, but I think it’s just in fun."

I will also note that I put myself on digatechguy and I don't feel any less of a person for doing so, nor should any girl on digatechgirl. Rock on.

[Jesse Chenard]

I like iJustine's comment. Making herself out to be oh so better than all of this.

Uhh, Justine, you are lifecasting yourself and I imagine 95% of the people who tune in are guys who have no interest in your tech skills or brains.

There is no shame in this site and as noted by Dave it really seems to be in good fun.

Rock on Julia!

[Michelle / chelpixie]

I'm not seeing DigATechGirl as a beauty contest at all, but I also don't see a list of your accomplishments.

That's what makes me frustrated. It doesn't say "smart, strong capable woman that demands respect". It tags you with " hot geek cute sassy smart social" (all of which are completely TRUE, btw). It just annoys me to see you boiled down to those few words.

I also see it describes you as a twitterholic, works for a digital thinktank, but you are so MUCH more than that, Julia. I can't agree with the concept.

David, I'm sorry I haven't responded to comments, but RL has been in the way. I'll do that today.

[David Fisher]

Michelle-

It's a good point that you make, but it's neither a list of accomplishments nor a beauty contest. It's a place for mainly friends and associates to go and say, "yea that person rocks". I'm guessing that most of the people who have voted for Julia, and the other people, already know a good bit about her and what she does.

Then again, I don't even think that my Monster.com profile is a decent list of accomplishments for me. Then again, I don't know if there is one. It's almost daily that I remember about stuff I've done that I had forgotten about. (I won the pumpkin carving contest in Kindergarden, but my dad really did it... Thanks dad!)

dave

[BillCammack]

Congrats on kicking ass in votes! :D Welcome to NYC when you get here!

People like to act as if guys don't like attractive girls. We do. Denying reality isn't going to improve *anyone's* staus.

LIfe isn't fair. Everyone's not as attractive as everyone else. Everyone's not as popular as everyone else. Everyone's not as talented as everyone else. That's the way the cookie crumbled for each one of us.

I don't see why there *shouldn't* be a list of "tech chicks"... Even though it was pointed out that some of the entrants are on the list for being "chicks" without really having ANYTHING to do with "tech". Meanwhile, there's a list of tech guys. When I was pointed to that list, there were a grand total of FOUR... guys, not pages.

Anyway, if people want to recognize the ladies of tech for their looks, so what? It's not diminishing their skills or accomplishments in any way, so it seems like a fun site...... as well as a great resource for the fellaz!!! hahahaha :D

[Rox]

The post and the comments cover a lot of good ground. I think confidence is the hottest trait either gender can possess. I think David's notion of "yea this person rocks" would be a cleaner (dare I say more this century) way to play these games.

What is really hard to summarize in a few sentences is how incredibly deep our personal and collective neuroses are re: attractiveness. Yes, Bill, there is the biology. But talk to an unattractive person and feel their pain - the bio argument makes it only worse!

And being a somewhat attractive and neurotic about my appearance person, yeah, it's fun to get attention but I think it may only contribute to my further neurosis!

I love beauty and I love seeing past stereotypes. Sometimes those are running a race, neck and neck. It goes to other things too. I would rather be in a beautiful room with beautiful views, but I can get down totally in a hovel when the energy is rocking and I am connecting with cool souls.

PS Hi Julia! JoeC sent me here.

[yndygo]

I tend to agree with you - certainly over iJustine's disingenuous statement.
I find it hard to believe that someone life-casting is terribly concerned about being taken solely on her tech merits.

Then again, I voted for you, because as a *cough* older female geek, I applaud women who are capable of being smart, accomplished, skilled and still sexy.

The myth that somehow being good at what you do also means you must pretend that you don't care what you look like is fairly absurd on its face.

[Sarah Wurrey]

I don't know. I really don't know.

Essentially, there's nothing wrong with assembling a list of ladies who are all smart, awesome, interesting, accomplished, etc and having their friends and peers vote for who is coolest. But you're telling me looks has nothing to do with it? Not many folks look at a picture of a woman and say "Wow, check out her 'confidence'!"

Not being of the "tiny waist, shiny hair" crew, I'm sure all my friends and admirers of my work would absolutely hop on and vote for me if I were on this site, but how many total strangers who are just there to ogle the sexy geek chicks? So yeah, it is a bit of a beauty contest. I guess the question is whether there's anything "wrong" with that.

Bill and David are both saying there's nothing wrong with recognizing women in tech as also being physically beautiful in addition to also being smart, accomplished, etc. Of course there's nothing wrong with it generally speaking.

But it does smack to me just a bit of the idea that it doesn't matter what a woman accomplishes in life, society only truly values those of us who are also genetically blessed. I don't think being good at what you do means you have to "pretend you don't care about what you look like," but I do think we should stop placing so much emphasis on caring so much what OTHER people think of what we look like--it's got ZILCH to do with our contribution to the world, unless we happen to be employed as swimsuit models.

I don't technically have a problem with the site--it's not like women are on there against their will. Have at it. But the reason "dig a tech guy" hasn't gotten as much attention is that generally speaking, men don't have to put up with the horsesh*t of having their level of sexual attractiveness play any kind of role in how far they get in this business...and i'm not sure the same is true for women.

[B~]

I call it the "Don't pretty girl me disease" In my business there are way too many "pretty girls" coming in and trying to sell me their products. If they can't educate my staff, support the products and help my bottom line then "pretty" gets sent back from where they came from. When contracts, billable hours and salaries are considered I promise you looks are not a criteria in the 'tech' world. It is your worth as an employee. Honestly when it comes to business looks matter initially but the reality of it is this; if Julia and all the other ladies on the site were not good at what they did their 'fan-base' / friends would not go and vote.
It seems to me Julia's career revolves around 'outreach' 225 votes in just 3 days,however or why ever doesn't matter. Seems to me Julia is just doing her job and doing it well !
Keep up the great work Jroy.

[David Fisher]

Wait... is shiny hair a good/bad thing? Oh that's so confusing. I know I have hair. I normally wash it to keep it from getting 'too' shiny. Overwashing? I dunno. Maybe I fail at hair. Oh well, moving on.

Sarah- I have to respectfully disagree about the thing of a guy's sexual attractiveness not having to do with anything in tech, or business in general. I could be terribly misguided, vain, and or maybe I'm secretly not as confident as I try to appear but I think that for guys it still plays a HUGE part and I think about how I look daily.

Maybe for guys it's not because they are trying to impress each other as often in a sexual way, but rather establish a pecking order and pack dominance. More often than not the taller presidential candidate wins, and in the major debates they even intentionally now try to make them all seem the same height so that doesn't play as much of a factor. I've even seen major news coverage of studies indicating that tall people (moreover men) make more money than shorter men. It's something out of their control, but oftentimes it's true!

Perhaps many guys in Tech aren't as concerned with their appearance, but that doesn't lessen the fact that impressions do matter. I could be totally off, but a guy that looks like Christian Bale might give a better first impression than a guy like that looks like Milton Waddams (Office Space) and all else being equal just might close more sales or end up being a more effective person in your in firm.

Again, I'm willing to be wrong, but I still think that for guys- looks matter. It's the same for women. But at the end of the day you need the skills and the brains to back it all up.

[Bill Cammack]

David, :D .....

Maybe you're right when it comes to encyclopedia sales or something like that, but IME, guys don't have to look like *ANYTHING* to still be respected, listened to, followed, hired, whatever.

What you're talking about is valid as far as general human relations. Yes.... The attractive people get more stuff. Life isn't fair! :D That's the way the cookie crumbled. There are studies that have shown that attractive people are granted extra attributes they haven't demonstrated, such as intelligence and nice personalities. However, I don't think there's *ANY* way to _seriously_ compare the way female and male looks are valued and come up with the conclusion that it's anywhere near EQUAL.

SEVERAL female friends of mine have pointed out to me personally how obviously different the two "DigATech" sites are. For instance, every single guy on DigATechGuy has SOMETHING to do with Tech. That's not true for the DigATechGirls. Also, look at the categories. The category for the guys is MONEY. The category for the girls is LOCATION. Get the picture?

On top of that, if it really had anything to do with tech, Marissa Mayer, whom I've PERSONALLY listened to speak about innovations she and her team are working on @ GOOGLE SEARCH would be at the top of the list all day, every day. As a matter of fact, Marissa Mayer is credited as Marissa M*E*yer, because whomever posted her picture to the site doesn't even know what her name is.

... Get the picture?

[charleshope]

And now isn't someone is supposed to say "This sets the women's movement back 30 years"? What a totally awesome cultural legacy the baby boomers have left us.

[Mike]

Jules. Can I call you Jules, Julia?

When I said you were hot, I meant that in a non male chauvinistic way.

I totally agree with you that being hot is more than how you look. It is about your confidence and your intelligence.

Sadly, not enough good looking women are thaken seriously. Partially because guys treat them 'unfairly', and partially because they do it to themselves by worrying more about their looks than their brains.

But you managed to look good, stay smart and kick some ass.

You go girl!

*Mike high fives Julia.

[Joe Tennis]

Well Julia, in the words of the great Nigel Tufnel, "what's wrong with being sexy?"

[bbonndesign]

I am reading all this negative stuff and just laughing... YOu are hot and smart and one of the top Social Media personalities around. I think you have earned a right to hold the title beautiful and talented. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
Julia Roy you are my hero!

[Yianni Garcia]

Damn you are rocking the votes on this thing. I wish the comments came with people's addresses so that we could egg the houses of the haters.

[Average Betty]

Do the math, people.

hot + smart = hotass (smart ass not included; some assembly required). Sexy is a talent and girl, you got talent! And your brains are awesome!!