On Sexism in Ham Radio

I was called into the thread of the now-stickied post pretty late, but I decided my comments are strong enough that I would like the community to read them as a main post instead of having them buried, and am tipsy enough to say what I really think.

Guys (and clearly, this is Ham radio so you're pretty much all guys), WHAT. THE. FUCK. Why is this the stickied post on top of our community? Why the hell are all the top comments all neckbeardy with stuff like "oooh, women, Ham radio kryptonite!" and "Ham radio eye candy!"? Why the hell are the few who (thank you people) suggesting this video is not the best approach having its creator saying "well it's better than the chick just showing she's on a book cover that got 700 upvotes!"

Well hi there, u/popnfreshbro, apparently we haven't met because you see no difference between me and a hired actress who doesn't know the first thing she's talking about. I'm the woman on that cover. I have also been a proud Ham radio operator going on 14 years now, and credit my love for this hobby for why I'm now getting a PhD in radio astronomy. I am also a fucking good operator- a few years ago I singlehandedly set the record for my category/division in Sweepstakes, for example, and have the plaque and mug to prove it. I would say that's a helluva good street cred to be on the cover of a Ham radio book, and you would have posted a picture if you were on it because you'd be proud of it too. It's a natural reaction. And if your first thought is "yeah, but she's a girl so that's why she got upvotes!" well fuck you, I don't show up in the shack thinking once about how I look and I'm not in this to look pretty for you. I'm here because I like to contest and to see what good DX I can pull in on the bands, not keep deflecting creepy comments from OMs like you who don't really believe I have a deserved place here.

Guys, Ham radio has a gender problem, with the OM and boys club feel that is worse than any other geeky thing I have ever been involved with (and this comes from a woman who filed sexual harassment paperwork during her undergrad as the sole woman physics major of her department). This video and thread is going to do absolutely nothing to assist that. I utterly hate to think what 15 year old me would have thought today if her casual interest in the topic brought her here and she clicked on the de-facto-endorsed-by-the-community post on top and saw this. She would run for the hills because she would conclude that this hobby is filled with creepers and there's no room in it for her, and I would not blame her for that decision.

And because perhaps some of you probably don't get it, let me explain why I find it offensive that this video is now being touted as the ad for our subreddit: it objectifies women and relies on gender stereotypes that would make no woman feel welcome here. We are currently dealing with a hobby that is only 15% women that keeps fretting about getting more people involved in it, so why do we allow things that would drive half the population away? I don't pretend to have all the answers on a complex issue, but I do know this stickied post is far from what we should want to represent the community. And it goes to show that if we ever have a crack at attracting more women into this hobby we have a long way to go.

Anyway, I'm going to bed now so upvote this or downvote this, I don't care. But it had to be said.