IBM released a new campaign ostensibly for women in STEM called #hackahairdryer. It’s since been pulled, but not before I watched the video three times in order to form an opinion after seeing twitter outrage all day.

thoughts i have had whilst watching #hackahairdryer three times (some of these thoughts were because Danni allcapsed at me)

I want mine solar powered and sentient.

I wonder if flatmate of No Award Bella will mind if I hack her hairdryer?

I know my science is enviro but I had a Dick Smith Electronic Set when I was a kid and I was bloody good at it.

I like this cos hairdryers are considered so simple and frivolous and feminine and I’m glad there’s a whole ad based around complexity and being a woman who turns it into something unique.

I mean, it’s also from a massive company who should have known better.

What if this was an art piece at MONA?

Imagine a 100 hairdryer Rube Goldberg machine made of hair dryers.

At MONA.

I like it cos it’s in no way drying hair, it’s hairdryers doing other shit.

We’re so used to seeing sexism in STEM and advertising – is this art and maybe not sexist and we just can’t tell?

Remember when hack meant a complete repurposing of a thing from its original purpose?

Remember when hack hadn’t been wrecked by corporates as to make a small improvement/change to a thing for free?

I remember.

Get off my lawn, I guess.

Apparently ‘to hack’ came from literally hacksawing things until they fit (citation needed).

Something about the way this ad is presented makes me go hmm.

Mostly because it’s kind of victim-blamey.

“Let’s get women in tech by showcasing innovation! Let’s ignore the institutional sexism, racism and classism in our educational and corporate systems that keeps women from staying in sciences or picking them in the first place!”

I went to an all-girls school in the 90s, I know how this works.

Since then:

IBM pulls #HackAHairDryer campaign admitting it ‘missed the mark’

Remember Massacred Women Engineers with a Hairdryer Hackathon [UPDATED]