At 10:20 AM -0800 12/21/96, Dale Thorn wrote:
Ya' know, guys, the world is half women, even though they're not on the c-punks list. Get in touch with them. They're fun people.
Ah, it's been a while since we had the "why aren't more women on the list?" discussion. Frankly, women are of course welcome. If the list interests them, they are welcome to subscribe. As it has always been. That so few women are subscribers, or remain subscribers, or attend Cypherpunks physical meetings....well, that's a larger issue involving familiar issues: - why are libertarian events so dominated by males? (in attendance, for example) - why do political extremist parties (Libertarian, Aryan Nations, JDL, KKK, Wobblies, etc.) tend to be more attractive to men in general? (While women are now well-integrated into the Democratic Party, and increasingly into the Republican Party, they are severely underrepresented in the various extremist and fringe parties noted above.) - why do men get a charge out of the thought of "seeing the walls come crashing down" as crypto methods undermine taxation, control of citizens, etc., while most women seem _disturbed_ by the implications? (I've explained crypto anarchy to many men and women over the past 6-8 years. I've seen the guy's get agitated, or bothered, but usually _interested_. I've seen eyes light up as they understand the likely implications of untraceable payments, anonymous communications, avoidance of Big Brother, etc. But with almost all women who've been exposed to this stuff, the reaction is negative, and one of disinterest. "Why would anyone want anarchy?" is a common question. Sociologists and psychologists could perhaps better explain why this is not a surprising reaction. I think it's why we seem to have at most a couple of active women subscribers at any given moment.) So, Dale, feel free to recruit more women to this and other lists. But don't presume from the traffic you see here--or from comments about the utter stupidity of little Jessica Dubroff, her pilot, her parents, and the complicitous news media--that we need a lecture on getting in touch with women. --Tim May Just say "No" to "Big Brother Inside" We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."