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> Lowering your hiring standards for women can give people like me the lingering self doubt that maybe I wasn’t good enough. Worse, it gives many techbros reasons to believe that his female colleagues aren’t as good as his, and act accordingly.

As a male, this has always been my main argument against affirmative action.

Too many SV white-knights feel they are helping simply because they are well intentioned. But good intentions do not always lead to the best outcomes.

And the costs are these "lingering self doubts", and teams being suspicious of "diversity hires".

Self-respect is very hard to quantify, but there is a distinct need for humans to be respected and authentically appreciated, and the extreme advocacy for females is sapping away this motivating force that is essential to work and life.



Personally I feel that its bad idea for the fact that affirmative action is sexist / racist. You end up selecting people based on their skin color / sex rather than their ability.


The bit that leaves out is that this already happens without affirmative action.


Affirmative action is definitely racist and sexist. Without it, maybe it is in some cases.


"If I got hired by a company with a diversity program, I'd wonder if I was as good as engineer as everyone else."

- men who never wonder if they got their positions because they fit the image people have when they think of this industry


Less women studied CS than men and less apply. The image used to be merit. Now its all fucked up.




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