WingMan: A step backwards in hackathon culture
A few weeks ago, LAHacks brought together thousands of students from across the country for one of the largest ever college hackathons. Out of 225 project submissions, one finalist was an application called WingMan, which its creators describe as “a content analysis algorithm for Tinder and other social media platforms.” This “analysis” involved amount of exposed skin, attendance at a party school, and a slew of other Tinder bio components combined to determine how “easy” the girl in the picture must be.
The problems with this app are clear— blatant objectification of women and yet another example of sexism in the tech industry. While many argue that Tinder itself objectifies both men and women, its users voluntarily create an account and know exactly what they are subjecting themselves to. No one, however, is signing themselves up for a computer program to analyze their picture and bio (if they identify as female) and make sweeping assumptions about their sexuality.
But an even bigger problem is that this app is a massive step backwards from the progress we have made in the hackathon community. Hackathons like Hack@Brown, Bitcamp, HackIllinois, and others have made huge strides in making hackathon culture more inclusive and welcoming to women. At some recent hackathons, female attendance has risen above the national average for computer science as a whole. The hackathon community represents the next generation of tech, and we have seen great progress as more hackathons strive to create an accepting, welcoming environment for all.
Given these improvements, the fact that an application like WingMan was a finalist at one of the nation’s largest hackathons is a serious problem. Not only does this diminish recent progress made by the hackathon community, but it also makes hackathon culture seem complacent about sexism. In response to criticism from participants, @LAHacks tweeted: “We sincerely apologize for allowing Wingman into our finalists. We strive for inclusivity and do not in any way tolerate sexism.” Although they recognized the problem, they did not explain why WingMan became a finalist in the first place or how it was deemed an acceptable project submission.
I believe it is the responsibility of hackathon organizers to publicize and enforce that sexist, racist, and otherwise inappropriate projects are not acceptable hackathon submissions. As a community, organizers are beginning to adopt a code of conduct preventing projects like these from appearing at hackathons. Under this code, attendees must understand that sexist content and behavior are unacceptable and that organizers reserve the right to prevent projects of this kind from being presented.
LAHacks certainly deserves credit for its attempts at inclusivity — they had a panel on women in tech and a HackCamp providing mentorship for first-time hackathon attendees. However, LAHacks took a major step backwards by allowing WingMan to be a submission and finalist. As hackathons continue to replace career fairs as the primary form of tech recruitment, attendance by women is key for increasing female presence in the industry. Therefore, it is critical that hackathon organizers continue efforts at inclusivity, creating an environment where women and other minorities in the field feel comfortable and welcome.
[Note: Since this article was initially published, LAHacks has released a statement explaining that WingMan was not intended to be a finalist.]
