Others have, but I don't want to call them out on that and suggest preferential treatment, poor form.
662 karma · joined May 26, 2016
►YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/SexyCyborg ►My FAQ: http://pastebin.com/V3474kYs
Yes, I play the cards I've been dealt.
>by wearing revealing clothing.
No, the clothing and gender expression predates YouTube and is for other reasons, is usually more conservative when I'm filming for YouTube, and is for myself. I've never worn anything for my audience.
>Can we acknowledge that some probably significant proportion of your channel views are at least initially due to your physique
Yes, I’ve come to take pride in it "came for the tits, stayed for the tech". If I happen to look the way I do for reasons other than marketing, being able to encourage technical proficiency in a demographic that was not looking to learn anything is about as good an outcome as I could hope for.
>and the way you happily show it off?
Sort of. I look the way I do for myself, and I don't object to any one else's polite enjoyment of that. As a gay woman I've gone from conflicted to entertained and accepting of it- as might any straight man who found themselves on the receiving end of the support of a large number of gay men, just for being himself and looking how he likes to look. But like our hypothetical straight creator- benefiting from something, it not the same as catering to it.
You're right, unfair, painting with a broad brush. It's easy to feel like people are coming at you from every direction when that's not the case.
I'm a mainland Chinese citizen with a high profile on Western Social Media, I can assure you I work very hard to make sure no one confuses me as a women's rights activist. Particularly not these days.
"Yes the algorithm is capricious,"
Not the algorithm- all human moderation.
"she's really just a purveyor of some weird type of titillation"
Why not just have an Only Fans, weekly photo video sets, and a decent copywriter and make 10x as much money? Why go through all this work?
"she's clearly making a bust of herself naked."
It's a dressmakers dummy, for sewing. It's a tool, it's not even decorative. It's of me because the clothes are for me. You can't make it with clothes on it or it won't work, I decimated the mesh instead. Men have been 3D printing far higher resolution models of nude female torsos without complaint from YouTube for a decade.
And again, before all of HN jumps on me, yes I get why, and agree why, but no I'm not doing it for the reasons many of you think and will want to chastise me for. I really do just look like this. If it was just a matter of changing outfits like a normal functional human being I really would at this point, it's just...not that easy. I'm contemplating an explanation video but it's a sensitive subject for me and not an easy thing to do. Yelling at me that I have it coming because I'm a lying whore trying to cheat poor innocent simps out of their money isn't going to make it any easier to offer a more complete backstory.
"Now that I've popped into the conversation just long enough to signal-boost a known smear campaign, I can't be bothered to actually read the evidence, retract what I've said or request further proof".
It absolutely does. Even with all the proof- I sound like a nut job, that's why I am so meticulous about the documentation across all three Medium posts- so no one has to take my word for it.
>It really looks like she is a professional bullshit artist
This has been disproven a hundred times. It gets revived because it's a handy way to justify the way I've been targeted.
Several years ago there was an expat here in Shenzhen, I refused to share my WeChat info with him, he took offense, this harassment campaign was the result. I don't know whether he is still involved, but the idea that slapping on a pair of fake tits instantly makes one Chinese girl incapable of doing the same basic fabrication and engineering that millions of other Chinese girls do far better seems incredibly appealing to some people.
If I'm a "professional bullshit artist" these are the people helping me:
Bunnie Huang https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=5046
Winston Sterzel (SerpentZA) https://youtu.be/hN6cKTjsnFs
China-Gadgets.de https://youtu.be/EzeFIPslWIg
Becky Stern and Estefannie https://youtu.be/87OI-P-kRr0
Limor Fried and Phillip Torrone https://youtu.be/i1z14LDjiZc
Maker Faire NYC attendees https://youtu.be/Qo9Pbs7Q7a0 (and Maker Faire Bangkok, Tokyo, and this month Rome: https://hackaday.io/project/164486-uecg-a-very-small-wearabl...)
Countless other hardware engineers and reporters who have come through Shenzhen and met me. Hundreds of people who have tried to quiz me and trip me up.
When Dale Dougherty, the editor of Make Magazine reposted this Reddit smear campaign and got pushback from the Maker community over it, he did everything in his power to not back down. Maker Media staff spent two weeks asking everyone who met me, and went through my videos frame by frame for anything they could use to cast doubt on my legitimacy- everyone said the same thing, I was the real deal. Make was truly desperate if there was a shred of evidence they would have found it:
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/ceo-apologises-for-say...
https://makezine.com/2017/11/19/apology-to-naomi-wu/
I could make more money off my appearance doing literally anything else, why the hell would I spend my day for the last three to four years hunched over a workbench getting cut, burned, pulling metal splinters out of my hand, for what? I've got the largest implants in China- my big score is a free $200 3D printer? My friends who live-stream for the Chinese market make 10x what I do just for singing songs and looking cute.
Why would I fight for Open Source compliance and respect for IP compliance where this is VERY unpopular and closes a lot of doors? Foreigners call me a thieving Chinese and a fake, Chinese call me a foreigners puppet for calling them out on GPL compliance and fighting on IP issues (which NO ONE else is doing here). https://youtu.be/pODH6FR4nU8
I shoot long, detailed build videos meticulously showing each step- more detailed than nearly any other female maker, and most men: https://youtu.be/qR3dw2GVS64
CAD tutorials (and I have to show me and the screen in the same shot, which is some bullshit but fine): https://youtu.be/b4a4LOVHs9I
...and I am absolutely candid about my augmentation: https://youtu.be/zVAjbJGd4GE
The people continuing the harassment campaign actually know that it's bullshit at this point. They just think it's funny to mess with a girl in Mainland China who is clearly not living well off her appearance- and taking huge risks.
My continued presence on English social media (and being honest, my continued ability to enjoy daylight) is entirely dependent on not embarrassing my country. I have the largest English language Youtube and Twitter following of any PRC citizen in Mainland China. This is NOT a good thing. Shitbags who go out of their way to defund and discredit me, when they know I'm legitimate- this is not about my feelings being hurt or ignoring "haters", this potentially has very real, real-life consequences. This is not a joke. For what? Who am I hurting just making stuff and reviewing tech in my living room workshop? Of all the people online doing actual fucked up stuff, why target someone doing nothing?
I don't do anything very difficult, of course I get English correction (Liu Cixin won a Hugo and no one thinks it's "suspicious"), I ask for help from local engineers when I need it- and I show that on video also, but my work is mine, the ideas mine and all fabrication done by me.
As always- anyone doubts me? No problem- set the bar I will crush any test of my skill they care to put me to. No hand-wavey "I don't buy it" character assassination- be specific, name what's fake, what can't I do and if I haven't already I'll fucking shoot it and post it unedited.
I just want to build things, show off my city, and it's tech. I'm doing my best to act normally, update my channel normally and not be at the center of any larger discussions likely to cause me additional difficulty.
I'm meeting with Bunnie Huang this weekend and he'll be able to verify I'm no longer in custody and in control of my accounts.
Dale genuinely could not fit me into his cognitive framework. He was an older guy who'd grown up on "Chinese can't be creative" which there is some truth to- it's really, really tough for us. What tripped him up is numbers- 1.3b of us, our outliers are...well like me. I am unlikely in a small pool- in a large one me, or someone like me is a statistical certainty. He made a mistake- and some people behind the scenes with other motives and their own prejudice who encouraged him to speak up and act on that mistake.
Vice knew. They made no mistake, no confusion, no misunderstanding- it was spelled out for them. Examples were provided of people in very similar situations and what the consequences were. Vice was flat out willing to subject me to state action for the sake of giving their story a "hook". Dale was, at absolute worse a prejudiced old man in a position where that prejudice did a lot of harm- Vice had multiple people involved who fit every definition of sociopath.
Thank you!
No offense taken! It seems crazy but things change fast- and yes we still steal loads of stuff and tend not to respect IP not registered in China. I have not found a really good write up in English, I've been meaning to get together with some local friends and do something. But yeah- totally ok to be skeptical, we don't have a stellar track record
This is becoming more and more common. Adafruit is another example, really good IP protection in China so no one has knocked off their boards. I have a Chinese IP lawyer I recommend who is great at this, but unfortunately most foreigners feel American IP protection is sufficient so won't spend the little bit it takes to protect themselves (better) in China.
There's a whole untold story- but Make contacted Vice, which was what caused all the subsequent events.
Yeah but they are averaging 10k views a video- which is what you would expect from a channel of about 100k subscribers, and they've never really had the views that are typical of 1m subs, so probably something is up there.
Thanks, the damage was and is pretty bad- and long-lasting. But, "be like water" and all that. I'm slowly pivoting to hardware development. Studying welding and CNC operations now also.
But- as far as business dealings with Make my one direct experience, in an area I'm qualified to talk about is that their China strategy was simply awful. Just textbook how to fail in China. They chose a Chinese partner that did not understand Maker culture, was incentivized to not support it (even curtail it), and let them run the Make brand into the ground during a time when billions of RMB was going into Maker initiatives:
https://theasiadialogue.com/2016/05/26/makerspaces-for-the-p...
Not just government grants, but parents willing to pay generously for after-school hands-on activities that cultivate creativity. Lego absolutely nailed it, they were and are the model for Make to follow: https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2188280/bric...
I told Make all this last year. Even with all the shit they pulled- I want Chinese kids to have something better than factory jobs making shanzhai shit. I will talk to Make or anyone else if it means more creativity here. I am a true believer- I would make a lot more doing literally anything else if I wasn't. I offered to get Make legal representation, connect them with the investors that were asking for an introduction- just at least hear them out. Nope. Patronizing and dismissive. They were convinced their current Chinese partner had "lots of guanxi" and had it all figured out. It was a huge, huge missed opportunity for absolutely no reason at the absolute height of demand. Now, of course, the Maker market has cooled off: http://www.sixthtone.com/news/1003171/made-in-china-the-boom... and things would be much harder.
Make seems to make very bad business decisions, driven by enforcing an in-house ideology and social hierarchy that really has no relation to the Hacker ethic at the heart of the Maker movement.
Better look: https://i.imgur.com/ydgpMus.jpg
I avoid having a desk surface because it just gets overwhelmed with crap. This way I can't just set things down- they need to be put somewhere. Also I can move it out of the way for shooting YouTube videos, roll near the window when I want more daylight, roll near the printers when I am tweaking them etc.
I wish you had taken the time to read what I wrote in the article- it does address many of the appearance issues you are fixated on and find so distressing.
I also wish you had taken the time to contact me- I have a standing invitation pinned to the top of my Twitter profile to any woman with questions about my appearance to have a friendly private chat about it before coming to conclusions.
I was brought up properly. I am respectful to more experienced, more educated women in the community who have the specific background to evaluate the impact of my appearance and presentation. If Limor Fried, Becky Stern- any of a dozen women in academia that I am in contact with told me I was hurting other women with my shenanigans and to go put some pants on. You'd see nothing but a blur as I did just that. That would be the end of it. Period. The consensus has been it hurts no one but me, and it has been argued it helps others in ways it does not help me.
I am a precedent- if my appearance does not matter, then no one's does. Not butch, not femme, the large, the small, the disabled, trans- none of it is relevant. The work and personal conduct are what matters. As soon as it becomes about "I know it when I see it" people have just as much right to complain about "sexualized" clothes like even a modest skirt, high-heels, makeup. The incel community shares your concerns and would love the foot you've put in the door for them.
Yes, I am aware that things have reached the point where my appearance does hurt me far more than it helps. It's a terrible "promotional" tool- all of the more successful female creators on YouTube dress far more modestly. It has closed countless doors and I do accept that. I looked this way long before I was on Western social media. It is gender expression first and foremost and important to me for reasons you would not be able to understand. I have made clear in the article you were uninterested in reading that I will not explain it- because no one should have to.
My appearance being raised in a post about being unjustly targeted and endangered by media outlets is odd. How is it relevant? My work stands on its own- I have never pushed for inclusion in anything on any basis but my work. I don't think we want to say that those with an objectionable appearance during some part of their life, should be excluded from professional events during which it's neither relevant nor apparent. If someone is a furry on the weekends- that's their business. If someone wears hot pants on the weekends- that's their business. So long as they don't hurt anyone, follow the prevailing dress code of the event- that's where it ends. It's about the work- not your personal comfort with my gender expression.
You- personally are uncomfortable with my appearance. That's simply as far as it goes. It's not justification for anything. Not with me, not with anyone else. I'm ok with that- you personally don't have to be comfortable with my appearance. But wrapped in however many awkward disclaimers you like, you don't get to suggest that the unreasonable conduct of others is something I should silently endure because of it.
If you were to best describe what the role I serve in the community, what my "profession" is- it's literally "STEM ringer". We have a problem in STEM where pervasive stereotypes try to tie women's intelligence and competence to their gender expression. My job to fuck with that. My job is to look dim, act sharp & kick ass. My personal style IS professional.
Bitch was asking for it. Just look how she dresses. Slut.
I do ALL of my builds myself and keep cameras running from beginning to end to prove it. What other technical help I get is always disclosed in the presentation and build log.
There is no proof I can offer that will be accepted and he harder I work, the more evidence I offer, the more I study and try, the angrier they get. Now this shit- I write a reasonable article and they jump in to try and discredit builds that are not even relevant to the discussion.