Brad Feld

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Writing More About Women

Oct 23, 2019
Category Writing

Following is an abridged email that showed up in my inbox recently that caused me to stop and think for a few minutes.

I took a look back through your posts before I crafted this email.  So much of what you write about is focused on men who are succeeding, that I wonder if you are going to write something about women like Simone Biles.  She is doing some pretty amazing stuff on the mat, bars, vault, and beam.  

I know you support women so I feel a little bad about calling this out but am curious.  Is my perspective so biased that I see fault or bias where there is none?  

You did write about JOMO and that was written by a woman. But that was one post out of 10-15 that I scanned through. 

And this is your personal blog so you can write about whatever you want.  My concern is that you are followed by a lot of men who you could influence with your openminded approach to more than just sci-fi, investing, and health.  I’ve read Snow Crash and thought it was fascinating but it’s definitely not my typical cup of tea. 

Perhaps we women are not your target audience.  To which I will add that it would be really helpful if you could use your platform for the good of women, not just men.  Because in the end, we all win if we have a more level and equal playing field including opportunities, products, and services. 

Even though I think I write in a non-gendered way and try to alternate pronouns when I sat and thought about this email the point being made rang true to me.

I have many women who are examples and role models for me. They start with my mom (Cecelia Feld) and my wife (Amy Batchelor). But there are many more that, going forward, I’ll try to incorporate into the stories and examples that I write about on this blog.

I try to live my life in a non-gender biased way. But, this note was a good reminder that it’s easy to fall into patterns that are not particularly helpful.