The Internet Thinks She’s Too Hot to be an Engineer, So She Teaches Them a Lesson
August 4, 2015
Isis Anchalee is a 22-year-old college dropout who works as an engineer at San Francisco-based tech startup OneLogin.
A little over a week ago, her company launched a new ad campaign that features her. The ad appeared all over the Northern California Bay Area.
Shortly after its launch, some of those who saw the ad took photos of it and posted it online, along with some unflattering comments. (click to enlarge photo)
Apparently, many people didn’t think that Anchalee fit the description of what an engineer should look like.
On August 1, Anchalee wrote a short post on Medium sharing her experiences working as a female engineer. She recounted how she’s had dollar bills thrown at her during work hours and been sent inappropriate messages asking to “be friends with benefits” during an interview process.
She wrote:
“There is a significant lack of empathy and insight towards recognizing that their ‘playful/harmless’ behavior is responsible for making others inappropriately uncomfortable. This industry’s culture fosters an unconscious lack of sensitivity towards those who do not fit a certain mold. I’m sure that every other women and non-male identifying person in this field has a long list of mild to extreme personal offenses that they’ve just had to tolerate. I’m not trying to get anyone in trouble, fired or ruin anyone’s life. I just want to make it clear that we are all humans, and there are certain patterns of behavior that no one should have to tolerate while in a professional environment.”
She then posted the following photo on the bottom of her essay.
She also went on Twitter to start a hashtag campaign #ILookLikeAnEngineer that encouraged other people to post photos.
And the internet responded:
Well done, Isis.
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