A female IT worker was recently abused on LinkedIn in response to posting a picture of herself holding a vase of USB sticks and a bottle of champagne in a "guess-how-many-USB-sticks-in-the-vase-and-win-champagne" competition.


Comments have included things like: "I count 82 USB sticks and two space hoppers" and "Another office lizard with fake breasts trying to pose as a so-called 'expert'"....The only thing she is an expert in is silicon implants...LOL." as well as more graphic and degrading things about what the posters wanted to do to her.


Whilst comments like this are always shocking, what really struck me is the fact that people feel comfortable posting comments like this from their professional profile pages. Are sexist attitudes so legitimised that people don't fear any repercussions (from current or future employers) from posting these sorts of comments? Have people become so complacent in offices that unacceptable comments under the guise of "banter" go unchallenged and become entrenched in workers' attitudes as ok things to say? Do women have to change their appearance before they can be taken seriously as an "expert" or fit in with the template of what someone in cyber security is expected to look like?

You can see the response from the cyber expert in question, Jayde Phoenix, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkS62Ufji5o 


I was pleased to see the response from Jayde's employer. It looks like they have been very supportive in very difficult circumstances. Since this occured, they have pledged to create training courses that focus on avoiding and dealing with online abuse and cyberbullying, provide guidance to victims and to work more closely with schools to make young people more aware of online dangers and teach them online etiquette.  


Read more at https://www.foursys.co.uk/Pages/Article/women-in-tech-are-they-really-welcome#.V7a_8U0rKJA (or speak to spokesperson andy.wool@foursys.co.uk).