This post until the problem is at least acknowledged, let alone addressed. Took me a long time to realise the problem was real ("it's a meritocracy, everyone is welcome in tech!"), and now I can't stand to look at the comments in threads like this http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5279118 without cringing.
Can you name an industry(at least as broad as "tech" field) which has no sexual harassment lawsuits, or exceptionally few?
You can tell stories like the one in the blog about any field. Tech is not special. If there is going to be change, it will have to come from society at large, and not by fiddling with the dials of a specific field.
You are absolutely correct. It's everywhere, in every industry. Tech is not special. But it is our field, our community, and it is incumbent upon us to change our own community. So you propose sitting on our hands and waiting for some magical shift in society at large? No thanks. And that's not how change happens. We can effect change in our own communities - and if enough communities make change you'll see ripples through society and eventually society at large may change. You have to start somewhere.
