Edited by Avleen Grewal
It genuinely baffles me that people, when faced with a woman who is both intelligent and beautiful, have the initial reaction that she can’t be both. There’s no way. You’re either pretty or you’re an unattractive nerd. There’s no in between.
That’s exactly the unfortunate energy that has been facing Lyndsey Scott.
Lyndsey Scott graduated from Amherst College in 2006 with a joint degree in theatre and computer science. She maintains a profile on Stack Overflow and in early 2014, she was one of the top 2% of users with over 2,000 reputation points and more than 38,000 profile views. She has developed iOS mobile apps for many years; and is undoubtedly a talented and sophisticated programmer. On top of her incredible coding ability, Scott is a former Victoria’s Secret model.
Last week, a photo came out with a picture of Scott that said “This Victoria’s Secret model can program code in Python, C++, Java, MIPS, and Objective-C.” The responses that this photo received were appalling. Many men, who could not believe that someone could be beautiful and simultaneously intelligent, commented things such as “What a waste” and “Yeah, she can print out ‘Hello World!’” Not only are these comments incredibly insulting, but they play into the stereotype that there is a certain type of person who codes. Be honest with yourself – when I ask you to imagine a coder, do you imagine a beautiful young female who is also a model? For many, the answer is no.
After many negative comments surfaced, Scott responded by saying, “I have 27481 points on Stack Overflow; I’m on the iOS tutorial team for RayWendelich.com; I’m the Lead iOS software engineer for Rallybound, the 841st fastest growing company in the US according to Inc. Magazine. I have a Bachelor’s degree from Amherst where I double majored in computer science and theatre; and I’m able to live my life doing everything I love.”
Now, if you’re like me, my jaw dropped when I read her comment – the way that she was coming at these negative comments was incredible. She is the confident, intelligent, and beautiful role model than other women in STEM need. However, the issue to me is; she shouldn’t have to defend herself. If she says she can code, why do people feel the need to question it so much? The issue is, if you don’t fall into what people think a programmer is supposed to look like; then you feel the need to justify yourself. And, well, that’s just not fair.
For me, as well as other women in tech, this situation is all too familiar. In order to succeed in our field, we think we have to be the best of the best. Often whenever I succeed at anything, even as small as finishing an assignment, I don’t feel good enough. Who cares if I finished? The guys in my class finished weeks ago; and have been working on their own side projects since then. I’m lagging behind.
Computer science has helped me in a ton of ways; I’ve made some amazing friends and I’ve fallen in love with coding and problem solving. However, one thing that it initially did was ruin my self esteem. I tried to hide in the back of the class and not talk in fear of people seeing me doing the wrong thing; and automatically assuming I must be failing because I am a female. Recently, I was working hard on a problem in a tutorial, and a guy walks up to me, and sees me struggling. He then says, “Are you sure you’re in the right program?” It was genuinely one of the most insulting things that I think has ever been said to me.
Personally, I am a slow learner. It takes me several tries of working at a problem to understand how it works and why I need to use a certain method to solve it. I’ve always known that about myself. Normally I’ve been okay with it, but at the beginning of university, I found myself getting frustrated with myself. So many of the guys in my class seem to pick up on things quickly – why can’t I?
I decided to reflect on my experiences and I realized – hiding in the back of the classrooms, refusing to ask questions or seek advice when I need it – all of these aren’t helping other women in STEM. I want to make sure that I can try to help other women when they try to enter male-dominated fields; and I myself have to be confident in order for that to happen.
Lyndsey Scott is a prime example of this. She hasn’t let sexism get in the way of her living the best life that she possibly can. Although she may not look like the ‘coder’ that everyone expects, she is breaking stereotypes and inspiring women everywhere.
Among young Canadians (aged 25-36) holding bachelor degrees in STEM fields, men were almost TWICE as likely to work in science and technology jobs as women in 2016. In 2015, women who graduated with bachelor degrees in STEM earned only 82.1% of the earnings of their male counterparts.
These statistics tell us something – woman aren’t entering STEM fields, and when they do, they aren’t earning as much. To fix this problem – we need a more inclusive environment within these fields. Scott, when looking at the negative comments about her, said, “Looking at these comments I wonder why 41 percent of women in technical careers drop out because of a hostile work environment #gofigure.” To me, it is imperative that STEM environments become more inclusive and start treating their women better. And, of course, the wage gap is definitely an issue as well.
Also, despite the fact that negative comments can be hurtful and are often the only comments we think about, Scott has gotten a lot of positive feedback from people about how inspiring she is. One person said, “I’m so glad to have another awesome role model! I walked into my first programming class and was told I was in the wrong place, it shouldn’t be this hard to be taken seriously.” Another wrote, “As a mum of three beautiful daughters I applaud you – you are such an amazing role model.”
I think, despite how many negative comments one may get, it is important to realize that there are always people who are inspired by you. In terms of Lyndsey Scott, there may be some trolls trying to shut her down. But for every one of them, there are several other girls who are inspired by her. She’s an incredible role model and I can only hope one day that I can encourage as many women as she does. And as a wise woman once said, “Who run the world? Girls.”