March 05, 2006

Yo Mama

There is a comments' discussion at the great Anne Zelenka's debating whether it's okay to talk about Yo Mama wanting the path of least resistance when it comes to tech, or whether that's somehow ageist and/or sexist. Or something else.

If you're presenting at a conference and you want to say that you built something that your mom likes to use for x, y, and z reasons, then I say that's BULLY GOOD ON YOU. If you say, it's so easy even a mom could do it, well then you're stupid because you're implying that mom = the lowest common denominator, when in fact, it doesn't.

But I'm not okay being smacked down for talking bout mamas and what YOUR mama wants in technology. That's bullshit. There may not be a single TAG that describes all mothers, but there IS a tag CLOUD for motherhood. It has lots of words in it whose definitions are all over the map. BUT, many of these words and phrases have things in common. For example: really fucking busy.

If a woman says she was inspired to build a product because it makes life more comfortable for her dad who's up all night peeing because of his bad prostate, then I think she should talk about that too.

Personal experience of the honest variety enlivens boring conferences.

Bring it on and don't be afraid.


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