Hey guys, Katy here, just wanted to thank everybody for the support and super insightful feedback. I will continue to edit the post and post here with clarifications, mostly after work hours :)
And yes, I know everybody's probably sick of gender issues, and that's why I almost didn't bring it up, but I hoped it would be a chance for a good civil discussion, and I'm really glad to see it turning into that. Hopefully someday soon everything can be awesome, we'll never have occasion to talk about this garbage again, and we can all go back to nerding. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to that day.
But, seriously, the civility and respect here have totally blown me away. Really proud to be a part of this community. Thanks everybody, you give a lady hope!
Never stop blogging about it, please. Did you see the post the other day from the woman who works at Game Informer (http://meagan-marie.tumblr.com/post/46396481491/what-would-y...)? Her experience at PAX East was one thing, but her work stories were even worse. I'd recommend it to everyone here.
Personally, I'm glad you did. I'm a male engineer, but there are two women engineers in my family (mom and sister). They always bring up these situations to me that few seem to notice. And honestly its really difficult for them at times to be in this industry. More discussion is good.
I am not sick of gender issues. I have recently been enlightened (mostly by Bob Martin's recent blog post) about language that I use at work (eg military analogies) that could be alienating to anyone (eg females) who didn't grow up idealizing warfare. This is an incredibly important point in history, and you are at the epicenter. Thanks for sharing your experience.
And yes, I know everybody's probably sick of gender issues, and that's why I almost didn't bring it up, but I hoped it would be a chance for a good civil discussion, and I'm really glad to see it turning into that. Hopefully someday soon everything can be awesome, we'll never have occasion to talk about this garbage again, and we can all go back to nerding. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to that day.
But, seriously, the civility and respect here have totally blown me away. Really proud to be a part of this community. Thanks everybody, you give a lady hope!