Open source women all look the same

Posted by Stormy on April 10th, 2008 in Open Source

When my parents lived in Japan, everyone thought my dad looked like Harrison Ford. Their noses are kind of similar and they're both American. And I have Caucasian friends that think all Asians look alike. So it shouldn't have been a surprise to me that people think that the women in open source all look alike.

Amanda McPherson recently got asked how she travels so much with an 18 month old. Hmm, someone must have gotten Amanda and I mixed up. I've got an 18 month old and as far as I know Amanda doesn't have kids. We have similar heights (5'6”, Amanda?) and we're women. That must be it. Or maybe it's similar hair styles and we're women.

Thankfully I respect the women in open source and I am sure they'll do credence to my name and I don't mind playing them once in a while. :)

Not that I should talk. I am embarrassed to tell you how many people came up to me at the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit and said “Hi, Stormy!” and I had to say, “and you are? …” and then on finding out who they are, “Oohh! HI! Nice to meet you in person.” Now if everyone would just post their picture on Twitter! Did I mention that my favorite part of conferences is seeing everyone face-to-face? And pretending to be Amanda, of course.

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  1. Amanda McPherson said, on April 16th, 2008 at 5:26 pm

    Hey Stormy!

    This cracked me up. Yes, I am also 5 6. I really feel that since there are so few women in open source that it shouldn’t be so hard to confuse us.

    But now it all makes sense. You’re pretending to be me. I’m pretending to be you. Other people are pretending to be us, too. One kernel developer friend of mine (and also a woman who frequently gets confused for other open source women) suggested for the next conference we should all dress alike and put “Woman” on our name tag. That would really confuse them. ;-)

    Congrats on the open source census!
    Amanda