This devaluation of women's accomplishments was systematic, reflecting the idea that women in the tech scene are overlooked or excluded because they are less worthy than men. One informant, an investor, said some very questionable things about women in an interview. (He looked horrified when he realized what he had said on the record, and I promised to keep his identity secret.) In his words: "The basic conclusion we came to is like, women are just emotional and it reminds me—don't take this the wrong way—of a seven-year-old kid, or an eight-year-old kid who's struggling with emotions, doesn't know what's happening, they can't verbalize it, it happens to all of us, even men. And men can shut down, get angry, but we can logically do something. And women can't express it to the guy logically." Clearly, if a venture capitalist thinks that women are less logical and emotionally mature than men, this will make him less likely to fund women-run companies.

Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, loc. 705