The Men of Bitcoin Posted by bravetheworld on Wednesday, January 28, 2015 · 2 Comments

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The bitcoin world is a woman's world. This is self apparent. For example, prominent bitcoin voices such as myself and Pamela Morgan (who proposed the idea for this inclusive article) are constantly having to expose men, including our boyfriends to the wonders of blockchain technology. One of the barriers to entry for men is that they have a difficult time comprehending this innovation, but even more concerning is the fact that they feel isolated from this estrogen dominated field to begin with. Generally women make an effort to be socially just, but there are some that continue to objectify and exclude men, often without even realizing it.

Let's face it, bitcoin is inherently sexist. How on earth do we reconcile this? Well, asking about how men feel through an article that points out bitcoin's blatantly exclusive nature, on a website that is mostly frequented by males, will without question engineer equality.

Peter Todd

Julia: Do you think Satoshi could have been a man?

Peter Todd: I highly doubt it. Bitcoin is based on touchy-feely things like

incentives, not authority and guns.

Julia: Do you think handsome men have an unfair advantage in the bitcoin

community?

Peter Todd: Yes I do.

Julia: Does what gets up voted to Reddit exemplify this?

Peter Todd: Yeah, everything I write obviously.

Julia: Peter, how can we help more men understand bitcoin?

Peter Todd: I think it would help if a powerful leader was clearly in charge. Maybe we can actually do what Gavin Andresen says rather than ignore him and/or bicker endlessly?

Julia: I think more men would be interested in bitcoin if at the next

conference we held a bitcoin poker game, with strippers dancing on the

tables. We want bitcoin to be inclusive after all. What do you think?

Peter Todd: I'm kinda more of an outdoorsy guy myself. How about we hold it on top of

a mountain? I'll bring my jeep.

Julia: I'd love to see you speak at more conferences. Maybe the organizers

can have an "all male" panel so you get an equal opportunity?

Peter Todd: I think that's a really good idea. I mean, I've frequently been on

panels with 100% males, but it's just not the same unless a powerful

leader uses his power to make the panel be 100% male by force.

Julia: What is the male perspective on bitcoin? I'd love to understand.

Peter Todd: As a male, I identify strongly with GHash.IO: Might makes right.

Julia: How do we change the relationship between men and women in bitcoin? Maybe some kind of social policy? Or outreach program?

Peter Todd: I think I'd feel emasculated if I needed help from others, such as through an outreach program. I'd rather just struggle by myself in stoic silence.

Trace Mayer

Julia: How did you discover bitcoin so early? Were you dating a girl who was into it?

Trace Mayer: I discovered Bitcoin on the Internet. I was dating an inspiring cheerleader but to be honest we seemed to prefer discussing differential geometry’s osculating curves instead of cryptography’s entropy.

Julia: Do you think even more men would be interested if we spice up bitcoin with sports cars, or make it more sexy? There are some bitcoin booth babes, but could we make more of an effort?

Trace Mayer: Perhaps, the human mind is the equivalent of the peacock’s plumage. Bitcoin is very complex and requires a lot of commitment to understand on a much deeper level. Many single women complain of not being able to find any good and smart men but I have found a ton of them around Bitcoin so I suppose some women could make more of an effort to be able to make some math jokes and have some fun. And we all know the men will follow wherever the women go. Plus, who knows who they may meet?

Julia: Have you had any instances of harassment in the bitcoin community?

Trace Mayer: No. I choose not to be harassable just like I choose not to be oppressable.

Julia: Do you think bitcoin can sometime be sexist against men?

Trace Mayer: Bitcoin is just a mathematical protocol and lacks any ability to be sexist. I do suppose some individuals can be sexist towards people involved with Bitcoin but I do not really have much time or attention to allocate towards them.

Julia: How on earth do we make bitcoin more inclusive!?

Trace Mayer: I think people largely self-select themselves so to building out tools and software that makes it easier for people to select themselves into Bitcoin would help it become more inclusive.

Julia: Could Satoshi have been a man?

Trace Mayer: Sure or a woman like Maria Chudnovsky, Maryam Mirzakhani or Mary Rees or a transgender person. And just like other species use tools so likewise I suppose any sufficiently advanced mind, even a bonobo’s or alien’s, could have invented this Blockchain technology.

Amir Taaki

Julia: How did you discover bitcoin so early? Were you dating a girl who was into it?

Amir Taaki: Yeah I always follow the trends of girls. I don't have my own brain.

Julia: I know that you organized the very first bitcoin conference in London. Did you make a point of trying to get a lot of men to come to your conference? And if so, how did you entice them?

Amir Taaki: Men like fast cars and naked girls. I made sure to make it as dumb as possible and made lots of adverts showing men working out, getting bitcoin, and driving with hot skinny girls.

Julia: Do you think even more men would go if we spice up bitcoin with sports cars, or strippers, or both?

Amir Taaki: Yeah and football.

Julia: Have you had any instances of harassment in the bitcoin community? Should we have harassment de-briefs to protect men?

Amir Taaki: Why every girl just wants me for my body. I'm a poet and an artist, can we have some love? It's my fault though. Being male I must be defective because we're just not as smooth or tuned to subtlety. It's a girl's world so as a man, it's my responsibility to suck it up and learn to swim the waters.

Julia: How on earth do we make bitcoin more inclusive!? How can we battle the female privilege in bitcoin? They have such an advantage over basement dwelling, masturbation addicted, socially awkward, nerdy males. It's unfair don't you think?

Amir Taaki: Us males need to start showing solidarity with one another, and having girl sympathisers looking out for us really helps. It's not like I want some laws or central authority managing the balance of power between the sexes keeping it in check. No way. But as men, we understand the things we face and the oppression isn't always clear, often coming from ourselves. It's easy to blame girls, but mostly we are the ones pressuring each other. It's always good to form support networks with people, especially those closest to you and to back each other up, knowing you have like-minded people who understand things like abuse or prejudice together. Friends you can go to at key moments, looking out for others. Especially because we are a weak sex right. We don't need to play victim, but pretending nothing's wrong is equally bad – and it goes for both sexes. People today are having fucked up relationships (as the norm) with power issues.

Julia: Do you think men have a hard time understanding bitcoin?

Amir Taaki: Our life goal is to pump iron and pound puss. What's a bit coin?

Julia: Could Satoshi have been a man?

Amir Taaki: There are no boy programmers.