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Walt Whitman: “I am large, I contain multitudes.” Marissa Mayer: “I Am Not a Feminist. I Am Not Neurodivergent. I Am a Software Girl.”

Discussion  5 comments

Tra H

Wish there was a bit more digging on this idea from Mayer:

But that naivete was better than knowledge. The experience of that attorney would’ve gotten in the way of doing something like Google News. Inexperience can create innovation.

It's a neat anecdote, but it doesn't even hold up in that story. The knowledge of the attorney might have slowed things down some, but their input might've added value as well, and it's not like they were incapable of understanding the way things were done, they just needed to be learned in a bit to contribute. It seems like a justification of that whole "move fast and break things" mantra of Silicon Valley and while it definitely made a lot of people unimaginable rich, I don't think I would say it was good for society.

Danielle NH Edited

I'm not sure what I expected from this article, or maybe more correctly from MM. This feels more or less like a PR article about her new company. Does she need to take a stand? Does she have to have something to say? Does she need to be a cultural leader? No. Of course she doesn't need to do any of those things. But I see so much potential in her for bigger things. For leadership in a time when we need real leaders (male or female on non-binary). One more random AI start-up is kind of a let down.

Andrew Lilja

"I am Not a Feminist," Says Woman Whose Job Opportunities Only Exist Thanks to Feminism

mattrad

This feels a little like “I’ve been cancelled” from person who expresses their cancellation concerns through the medium of a media operation with global reach.

I never get this “I am not a feminist” thing from successful woman who seem to ignore how things used to be (and still are in many places) when and where roles and laws exist to suppress women’s’ opportunities. She equates feminism with militancy but that is wrong, it is just another word for equality. I’m a man and absolutely a feminist - because I want more equal and just society from which we all benefit.

Reply in this thread

Chris Koerner

What an unabashed and uncritical look at an already successful and powerful person.

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