Its part of the wonders of America! All kinds of scum get to speak, Marxists, Nazis, fans of gnome paladins, etc.
You might not think it's sexist. I do. And when I showed some of the posts on her hiring forum to my wife, like the one where a poster pasted in the entire job posting and encouraged people to "judge her qualifications for themselves," she was appalled. Well, not exactly appalled, because, "what do you expect from those people?" but it definitely read as unqualified sexism. Not to mention that several posters went further and specifically claimed that her gender and appearance were her only qualifications.
When I read the accounts of women and harassment in the workplace, one of the first things that gets highlighted is the endless interrogation about one's qualifications from everybody. It's a pattern of hostility that women face. This is has been elaborated on in great detail upthread. So, maybe some of the people interrogating her qualifications don't have a shred of bias in anything they do, ever. They take a long hard look at every Wizards hire, dig up the original job posting, make wild speculations about the persons' qualifications based on limited knowledge (yeah, ok, we know she plays D&D a lot, but I've never seen a podcast of her DM'ing, so that means it must not happen!), regardless of gender. Good on them? I guess? Or, maybe, that person could appreciate the repercussions of needlessly hounding a woman about her qualifications and, armed with that knowledge, behave differently. Just because the behavior wasn't meant with hostility doesn't mean it doesn't have the effect of hostile behavior.
You might not think it's sexist. I do. And when I showed some of the posts on her hiring forum to my wife, like the one where a poster pasted in the entire job posting and encouraged people to "judge her qualifications for themselves," she was appalled. Well, not exactly appalled, because, "what do you expect from those people?" but it definitely read as unqualified sexism. Not to mention that several posters went further and specifically claimed that her gender and appearance were her only qualifications.
When I read the accounts of women and harassment in the workplace, one of the first things that gets highlighted is the endless interrogation about one's qualifications from everybody. It's a pattern of hostility that women face. This is has been elaborated on in great detail upthread. So, maybe some of the people interrogating her qualifications don't have a shred of bias in anything they do, ever. They take a long hard look at every Wizards hire, dig up the original job posting, make wild speculations about the persons' qualifications based on limited knowledge (yeah, ok, we know she plays D&D a lot, but I've never seen a podcast of her DM'ing, so that means it must not happen!), regardless of gender. Good on them? I guess? Or, maybe, that person could appreciate the repercussions of needlessly hounding a woman about her qualifications and, armed with that knowledge, behave differently. Just because the behavior wasn't meant with hostility doesn't mean it doesn't have the effect of hostile behavior.
You might not think it's sexist. I do. And when I showed some of the posts on her hiring forum to my wife, like the one where a poster pasted in the entire job posting and encouraged people to "judge her qualifications for themselves," she was appalled. Well, not exactly appalled, because, "what do you expect from those people?" but it definitely read as unqualified sexism. Not to mention that several posters went further and specifically claimed that her gender and appearance were her only qualifications.
When I read the accounts of women and harassment in the workplace, one of the first things that gets highlighted is the endless interrogation about one's qualifications from everybody. It's a pattern of hostility that women face. This is has been elaborated on in great detail upthread. So, maybe some of the people interrogating her qualifications don't have a shred of bias in anything they do, ever. They take a long hard look at every Wizards hire, dig up the original job posting, make wild speculations about the persons' qualifications based on limited knowledge (yeah, ok, we know she plays D&D a lot, but I've never seen a podcast of her DM'ing, so that means it must not happen!), regardless of gender. Good on them? I guess? Or, maybe, that person could appreciate the repercussions of needlessly hounding a woman about her qualifications and, armed with that knowledge, behave differently. Just because the behavior wasn't meant with hostility doesn't mean it doesn't have the effect of hostile behavior.
Honestly, I will also cop to initially questioning her qualifications and hiring.I don't think its sexist to wonder about her qualifications when she has not actually worked on any D&D related RPGs in any major capacity. Designing RPGs is more of an art form though and its not like all of TSR's hires were actually experienced D&Der's either but they had worked on other RPGs (well some of them had probably not all). Gygax is also another example, he could write an adventure, maybe not the best at writing an actual rulebook but he gets a free pass as he invented the genre.
Personally I do not know much about her, don't really care one way or the other, either way let her work speak for itself maybe she will go on to get major design credits in a D&D book or leave in 2 years time I have no idea. In the good old days TSR employed people via Dragon and/or Dungeon work, I think Mearls got int via 3pp first then Dungeon then ground floor. He was also one of the last to have that option/path as the Magazines have been out of print now for 10 years.
What was Mearls thinking?
This is one of the worst societal conflicts in recent history. Both sides are openly engaged in a holy war with each other and actively harass each other, to the point of ruining lives and sometimes driving each other to suicide.
Mr. Mearls, if you are reading this, consider how big of a mistake you just made. The first rule of the net is "Don't feed the trolls." And you just opened a buffet the size of Jupiter for them. Please, for the love of Gygax, turn out to have been drunk or something. Or just lie and say you were. The very stance you have taken is the one taken by Ghostbusters, Marvel, and dozens of others. The hostility toward fan base never works out. Just get out of the conflict and wait until the trolls get bored and go away.
And if you cannot, please leave WotC. I am a big fan of your work. But if you cannot control your temper with a fanbase that has always been full of vitriol and keep EnD in a fight where both sides now have reason to hate the franchise, then it is best you move on before you destroy the game.
By the way, I am interested to see what your new hire contributes. But I have reservations, just as I would if she were a man.