In the case of the conference harassments – the completely unacceptable acts of a couple of weirdos appear to have tainted an entire industry, where the majority of conference go-ers had seemingly behaved themselves quite reasonably. I know that conferences are supposed to be “professional” events – however that kind of behaviour is unacceptable anyway – not just because it’s at a conference.

On a more general note – I do worry sometimes that while trying so earnestly to close the gender gap in Computing – there is a risk of creating a whole new one where men start to fear dealing with women in case some daft remark or joke (such as the hex code thing) gets blown out of proportion and makes the news or results in some kind of disciplinary action etc. I don’t want to work in a world where people feel that they have to tiptoe around me. I used to get taken the mick out of loads for being female – but then I’d take the mick back because they were fat, partially sighted and refused to wear glasses, rubbish at scripting, fainted at the sight of blood etc. etc.

Personally, I’m much more offended by the fact that XBox Avatar Marketplace stocks 30 ice hockey jerseys and 10 Batman outfits for male avatars, and zero such items for female avatars! If my local fancy-dress shop refused to sell me a Batman outfit based on my gender – I’d kick off big time – so why should I accept it from a digital store? Now THAT has me narked off….

More worrying examples include harassment of females at conferences such as DEFCON and Readercon.

Working in IT and the only female in a team of 8, some employers may not have employed me to save themselves from a potential sexual harassment case. I feel the media storm surrounding Mr Garret’s post will push this reluctance further in to employers minds.

Blog posts such as Mr Garrett’s are the ones that keep reinforcing the stereotypes not the STEM industry, employers or the individuals writing silly bits of code to brighten up their dull day.

I work in a field where basic social skills are paramount and yet rare: the more diverse a selection of people we work with, the easier our working lives become. More than this, the better we do our jobs.

Every little thing that strengthens the stereotype decreases the chance, however slightly, of encouraging a more diverse workforce to take up STEM. No matter how trivial each incident like this might seem, we massively shoot ourselves in the foot with each one.

If a women states that this kind of thing puts her off Computing – I think she either needs to get a sense of humour, or was never going to get involved in the first place. There’s nothing stopping women putting in a few gags of their own. 0xB16B4115 perhaps…