Guys in infosec: we need to have a little chat about this really nasty undercurrent of misogyny in this industry. Because there's a lot to dismantle, and as guys it can be a bit awkward or difficult to see it exactly for what it is, or why it's so bad. https://twitter.com/Fox0x01/status/1301260276159983617

First things first, it's important to notice this isn't from some 12 follower alt account created last Tuesday, and it doesn't remotely bother to hide what it is. It's absolute toxic garbage *from someone well known* in the industry.

It's telling *on the whole industry* that this guy is totally cool with putting his name to this type of garbage. Because he thinks there'll be no consequences to it. In other words, it's not a "one bad apple" situation. It's a systemic issue.

The next thing to notice is the *structure* of the harassment.

As guys, we don't usually get this type of trash, so when we read the message, we tend to parse it neutrally, taking it as if it's some kind of logical argument.

That's why there's so many replies along the lines of "LOL this is about a Github badge?" or "don't take him seriously" or "that Github badge is actually about X" etc.

But what guys need to get is that the harassment comes from the *structure* of the message, not it's *content*. The content is there to trip up the men reading it into missing the point or thinking it's trivial, while hiding the damage in the deeply malicious subtext.

I mean, let me spell out the subtext for you

And notice the absolute backwards nature of it.

This guy is trawling one of her random github repositories, going through commits on that depot to find something to hate on, going to the effort to photoshop a picture of toilet paper with a Fox on it and then tweeting it at her.

This is some guy going out of his way to cause drama. And yet, when women push back on it or call it out, INVARIABLY it is *they* who are accused of causing drama.

Guys: these women are not the ones causing the drama. It is the dudes harassing them that are the drama queens.

(Aside: some amazing irony, of course, that the guy in Q thinks @Fox0x01's is not technical by ... finding evidence that she's been reverse-engineering Trustzone firmware images that sit underneath even the kernel on modern secure devices. But, hey, whatever, this guy's an idiot)

We need to clean up this industry. And part of that is understanding that just because some women speak up about it infrequently, doesn't mean those women are experiencing it infrequently, or that other women aren't experiencing it at all.

It's been less than a whole week since @maddiestone wrote this thread: https://twitter.com/maddiestone/status/1298995389563953163

Maybe you read it back when it happened. And as a guy you realize "hmm, yes, I too agree this is toxic and bad".

But re-read the bit underlined in red. Read it again. Let it sink in what is actually happening.

Imagine for a second what it would mean for you not to get some random hate once ever in a DM. But *once a week* getting someone saying your contributions are worthless and you don't deserve to be where you are. And *once a month* them sending that unsolicited *to your boss*

That's why "ignore the haters" or "actually this specific criticism is wrong because I went and looked up blah blah blah" or "hey, just believe in yourself you're awesome" replies just fall wildly short of the mark.

No.

It's harassment. Learn to see it plainly for what it is.