This clearly isn't the heart of the article, but are transgendered people really underrepresented in tech? It's anecdotal, but I'd estimate that 90% of the transgendered people I've met have been in tech.
I was thinking the same, every single trans or genderqueer person I know is in tech; but then I found it difficult to think of people I knew of any description who weren't in some way in tech. I guess it's a matter of perspective. Still, I would imagine it is easier to experiment with presenting, gender identity, etc when you are anonymous behind a LiveJournal (for some reason all the trans people I know have one). Heck, I was accidentally presenting as male for 2+ years on usenet because nobody took the time to wonder what gender I was, instead just assuming.
It's important to note that there are also transgendered people the other way (FTM, approximately half of all transgendered people), and they don't have the same 90% tech involvement thing (which is really only true for a certain age group of transwomen in the US, not so much for other countries).
I was similarly curious about that whole sentence. My sense among people I know is that LBGTetc are not particularly underrepresented in tech; and are possibly overrepresented. (Once you correct for the overall underrepresentation of females, that is; lesbians are clearly underrepresented, but not clearly so once you limit only to women in tech.) Like you, my evidence is only based on my personal interactions with people, but I would certainly like to see some numbers supporting the claim.
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This clearly isn't the heart of the article, but are transgendered people really underrepresented in tech? It's anecdotal, but I'd estimate that 90% of the transgendered people I've met have been in tech.
All kinds of social outcasts seem to be over-represented in tech. It's like that one lunch table in school where everyone who wasn't popular sat.
I was thinking the same, every single trans or genderqueer person I know is in tech; but then I found it difficult to think of people I knew of any description who weren't in some way in tech. I guess it's a matter of perspective. Still, I would imagine it is easier to experiment with presenting, gender identity, etc when you are anonymous behind a LiveJournal (for some reason all the trans people I know have one). Heck, I was accidentally presenting as male for 2+ years on usenet because nobody took the time to wonder what gender I was, instead just assuming.
It's important to note that there are also transgendered people the other way (FTM, approximately half of all transgendered people), and they don't have the same 90% tech involvement thing (which is really only true for a certain age group of transwomen in the US, not so much for other countries).
I was similarly curious about that whole sentence. My sense among people I know is that LBGTetc are not particularly underrepresented in tech; and are possibly overrepresented. (Once you correct for the overall underrepresentation of females, that is; lesbians are clearly underrepresented, but not clearly so once you limit only to women in tech.) Like you, my evidence is only based on my personal interactions with people, but I would certainly like to see some numbers supporting the claim.