1 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:12,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Welcome to 2 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:16,000 Speaker 1: tech Stuff a production of iHeartRadio How the Tech Area. 3 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: As you can probably tell from my voice, I am 4 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:21,080 Speaker 1: not Jonathan Strickland. My name is bridget Toad, and I'm 5 00:00:21,079 --> 00:00:23,600 Speaker 1: the host of iHeartRadio's Tech and culture podcasts. There are 6 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:26,360 Speaker 1: no girls on the Internet. Jonathan is actually the executive 7 00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:28,479 Speaker 1: producer of my podcast, and he was kind enough to 8 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:30,680 Speaker 1: pass me the mic in honor of Women's History Month, 9 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:33,400 Speaker 1: because talking about the ways that women have shaped technology 10 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:35,960 Speaker 1: is kind of my jam on my podcast. There are 11 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:38,040 Speaker 1: no girls on the Internet. We talk all about the 12 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 1: overlooked ways that women, people of color, transpolkes, queer folks, 13 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:44,440 Speaker 1: and everybody in between has helped shape what technology looks 14 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:46,559 Speaker 1: like and what it means to be online. Women have 15 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:49,839 Speaker 1: architected much of the infrastructure of technology and the Internet, 16 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:52,839 Speaker 1: but for lots of reasons. For one, women being more 17 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 1: associated with software as opposed to hardware, which is a 18 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:58,920 Speaker 1: bit more difficult to preserve, and of course good old 19 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 1: fashioned sexism, our contributions go easily overlooked. So in honor 20 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:05,759 Speaker 1: of Women's History Month, I'd like to tell you about 21 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:08,560 Speaker 1: two women who have been foundational to shaping what it 22 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 1: looks and feels like to be online. So let's start 23 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: with Macgirls Susan Kare and talk about how a sculptor 24 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:18,080 Speaker 1: with no tech background change the history of personal computing. 25 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:21,520 Speaker 1: Susan Kare is an artist and graphic designer best known 26 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 1: for her interface elements and typeface contributions to the very 27 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:27,560 Speaker 1: first Apple Macintosh, where she worked from nineteen eighty three 28 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:31,600 Speaker 1: to nineteen eighty six. She was Apple's tent employee. Susan 29 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:33,880 Speaker 1: Karer helped design a big part of what it looks 30 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:35,560 Speaker 1: like to use a computer, and you can still see 31 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 1: her legacy today. Remember hers that iconic episode of Sex 32 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,319 Speaker 1: in the City when Carrie Bradshaw's laptop computer crashes and 33 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:45,800 Speaker 1: she gets that sad Mac face. Well, that sad Mac 34 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 1: was designed by Susan Karer. So if you've spent any 35 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: time at all around Max, then you know Susankare's work. 36 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:55,000 Speaker 1: You should definitely google a picture of what Susan Kare 37 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:57,120 Speaker 1: who looks like in the eighties, because there is an 38 00:01:57,280 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 1: iconic image of her that you should definitely see. She's 39 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:03,960 Speaker 1: got an amazing like curly afro, She's wearing the slouchy 40 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,040 Speaker 1: gray sweatshirt and the slouchy jeans. She's got her feet 41 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:09,600 Speaker 1: kicked up on her desk at Apple, and her feet 42 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:13,280 Speaker 1: are right next to one of those amazing gray boxy 43 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:15,840 Speaker 1: early Apple computers. Definitely look it up. It is an 44 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:19,640 Speaker 1: amazing iconic image. So Kara first got interested in graphic 45 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:22,400 Speaker 1: design after her mother taught her needle point and embroidery 46 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:25,600 Speaker 1: as a child, which works in small grids. It just 47 00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:27,959 Speaker 1: so happened that I had small black and white grids 48 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:30,640 Speaker 1: to work with. She recalls, the process reminded me of 49 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:33,800 Speaker 1: working with needlepoint knitting patterns and mosaics. I was lucky 50 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:36,639 Speaker 1: to have had a mother who enjoyed crafts, So needle 51 00:02:36,639 --> 00:02:39,160 Speaker 1: point and crafting, you know, these pursuits that we kind 52 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:42,840 Speaker 1: of think of as traditionally feminine really shaped Susan Kare's 53 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:45,400 Speaker 1: work in technology. This is actually one of the reasons 54 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:48,359 Speaker 1: why I love Susan Kare's story and legacy so much 55 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 1: is that she didn't have a traditional tech background. I 56 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:53,880 Speaker 1: think so often, particularly for women, it can feel like 57 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:56,799 Speaker 1: if you're not an engineer or a coder, you don't 58 00:02:56,840 --> 00:02:59,960 Speaker 1: really have a place in tech. But that attitude is incorrect, 59 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:03,480 Speaker 1: not to mention very limiting technology shapes so much of 60 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:06,519 Speaker 1: our lives that we all deserve to see ourselves meaningfully 61 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:09,840 Speaker 1: and authentically reflected within it. And Susan Kare is a 62 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:12,480 Speaker 1: great example of what I mean, because she didn't really 63 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:15,600 Speaker 1: have a lot of experience with technology or even computers 64 00:03:15,639 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: when she first started working an Apple back in nineteen 65 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:20,160 Speaker 1: eighty three. At that point in her life, she made 66 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 1: money and got experience taking pro bono graphic design jobs 67 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:27,360 Speaker 1: making holiday cards and invitations. She then started working as 68 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:29,440 Speaker 1: a sculptor, but didn't like it because she found it 69 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:32,480 Speaker 1: to be too solitary of an artistic pursuit. A fact 70 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:34,680 Speaker 1: that I love about her story is that she had 71 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:37,480 Speaker 1: been elbow deep working on a life size sculpture of 72 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: a hog when she first got the call from Apple's 73 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:43,320 Speaker 1: Andy Hurtsfield. Andy Hurtsfield was a member of the original 74 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: Apple Macintosh development team in the eighties, and he had 75 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:48,920 Speaker 1: gone to high school with Susan Kare. He asked Susan 76 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:52,080 Speaker 1: to hand draw some icons and fonts to help inspire 77 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:56,000 Speaker 1: the budding mac interface. This was a completely new concept 78 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:57,920 Speaker 1: for Susan Care. She said that she didn't know the 79 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:01,600 Speaker 1: first thing about designing typeface, but Hurtsfeld had an idea. 80 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:04,440 Speaker 1: He told Ker to find the smallest graph paper that 81 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 1: she could find, then block out thirty two by thirty 82 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:09,960 Speaker 1: two inch squares to fill with color to come up 83 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 1: with designs since the matrix that she'd be designing in 84 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:16,040 Speaker 1: was essentially a grid, and Lucky for Susan, her mother 85 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:18,640 Speaker 1: had taught her needle point, and those needle point skills 86 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:22,080 Speaker 1: came to her rescue. Bitmap graphics are like mosaics and 87 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:25,159 Speaker 1: needle point and other pseudo digital art forms, all of 88 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:27,880 Speaker 1: which I had practiced before going to Apple, she told 89 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:31,880 Speaker 1: an interviewer in twenty twenty. Susan Care's legacy endures today. 90 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:35,320 Speaker 1: She came up with the concept of associating unique document 91 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:39,120 Speaker 1: icons with their creator applications, like a little image of 92 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:41,200 Speaker 1: a paint bucket being the thing that you clicked to 93 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:44,360 Speaker 1: fill a surface with color, or little scissors meeting cut. 94 00:04:44,839 --> 00:04:47,640 Speaker 1: For the copy function, she initially tried using a copy 95 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 1: machine that users were meant to drag and drop onto 96 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:53,279 Speaker 1: their file to make a copy, but rendering a copy 97 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:55,800 Speaker 1: machine was kind of tough to render at scale. She 98 00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:58,320 Speaker 1: also tried to use a cat looking in a mirror 99 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:00,760 Speaker 1: to demonstrate copy. But I guess that was just like 100 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:03,560 Speaker 1: too clunky of an image. So she might be thinking, 101 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:06,719 Speaker 1: is this really such a big deal? Is this really 102 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:10,680 Speaker 1: a big part of computers and technology? Yes, because keep 103 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:13,560 Speaker 1: in mind this was during the very early days of 104 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:16,599 Speaker 1: personal computers. At that time, they were still these big, 105 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:19,560 Speaker 1: clunky nightmares that seemed difficult to use, and they were 106 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:23,960 Speaker 1: really more inclined toward engineers or mathematicians, not regular people 107 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:26,159 Speaker 1: using them in their house. All of the tasks that 108 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:28,320 Speaker 1: you want to do in a computer, like throwing a 109 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:30,280 Speaker 1: file in the trash or clicking a little disk to 110 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:34,039 Speaker 1: save a file or not necessarily immediately obvious to people 111 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:36,640 Speaker 1: who were using computers for the first time, and so 112 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:40,040 Speaker 1: having those functions be simple and accessible was a big 113 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:42,240 Speaker 1: part of why personal computing took off in the first place. 114 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:46,200 Speaker 1: Apple specifically wanted to demystify the process of using computers 115 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:50,280 Speaker 1: by having user friendly interfaces that care was foundational to designing, 116 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:53,320 Speaker 1: and she also wanted to humanize the experience of using 117 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:55,680 Speaker 1: a computer to reduce stress for folks who might have 118 00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:57,840 Speaker 1: been using them for the first time, which is why 119 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:00,440 Speaker 1: when those old school max booted up, the first thing 120 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 1: that I use or saw was the happy Mac image 121 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:06,039 Speaker 1: of a little computer with a smiley face, or in 122 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:08,800 Speaker 1: the case of Carrie Bradshaw, if something bad happened, you 123 00:06:08,839 --> 00:06:11,400 Speaker 1: would get the dreaded sad Mac, a computer with a 124 00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:14,680 Speaker 1: frownie face. Or if you were having a really bad day, 125 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:17,880 Speaker 1: you might get that bomb icon for when your system 126 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:20,720 Speaker 1: was crashing. A cool thing to know about Susan Care 127 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:22,599 Speaker 1: is that even though she is a very much part 128 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: of tech history, she is very much alive today and 129 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:28,200 Speaker 1: still a big part of technology. And I think it's 130 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:30,680 Speaker 1: so great when we're able to celebrate our icons and 131 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:34,640 Speaker 1: our historical heroes while they're still here. Susan Care works 132 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:38,280 Speaker 1: at Pinterest today or you're probably also familiar with her designs. 133 00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:40,800 Speaker 1: She designed the image that is modeled after a pushpin 134 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:44,440 Speaker 1: to symbolize pinning something on a Pinterest and that spinning 135 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:47,719 Speaker 1: button that appears when you refresh the app today. Susan 136 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:50,320 Speaker 1: Care's notebooks are part of the permanent collections of the 137 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:53,440 Speaker 1: New York in San Francisco Modern Art Museums, and one 138 00:06:53,480 --> 00:06:56,479 Speaker 1: was recently included in the recent London Design Museum exhibit 139 00:06:56,520 --> 00:07:01,800 Speaker 1: called California Designing Freedom. Ellen Lupton Senior Curator of Contemporary 140 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:05,200 Speaker 1: Design at the Cooper Hewbitt Smithsonian Design Museum, told the 141 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:08,880 Speaker 1: Smithsonian dot com. When Susan Kare helped create Apple's user 142 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:12,040 Speaker 1: friendly interface in the early eighties, computers started speaking in 143 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:15,600 Speaker 1: pictures instead of lines of code. Her bitmapped icons made 144 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:18,440 Speaker 1: people feel welcomed and safe, even when the system crashed 145 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:21,000 Speaker 1: and gave you a drawing of a bomb. Kara's original 146 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:24,760 Speaker 1: bitmapped icons, built from little black squares, were eventually replaced 147 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:28,720 Speaker 1: with colorful, more elaborately illustrated icons, Yet the core thinking 148 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:32,000 Speaker 1: remains the same, and Karras continued to create warm and 149 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:35,400 Speaker 1: accessible imagery for a range of tech companies, including Pinterest, 150 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:38,960 Speaker 1: where she works today. What's interesting about Susan Kare's designs 151 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:40,920 Speaker 1: are the ways that she's really shaped how we think 152 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:43,280 Speaker 1: of and use computers in general. You know, when I 153 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:46,160 Speaker 1: was growing up writing term papers on my dad's clunky 154 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: gray desktop at our computer room, I had to manually 155 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:52,320 Speaker 1: hit the save button every few minutes, and the save 156 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:54,920 Speaker 1: button was a little icon of a floppy disk. And 157 00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:57,160 Speaker 1: even though we no longer use sloppy discs, I have 158 00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 1: not seen one or held one for many, many years. 159 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:02,760 Speaker 1: We no longer have to hit save manually every five 160 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:06,480 Speaker 1: minutes because things save automatically. The icon per save is 161 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:09,640 Speaker 1: still a floppy disk. Kara told The Smithsonian about her 162 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:12,600 Speaker 1: time and Apple. I loved working on that project. Always 163 00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: felt so lucky for the opportunity to be a non 164 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:17,800 Speaker 1: technical person in a software group. I was awed by 165 00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:20,400 Speaker 1: being able to collaborate with such a creative, capable, and 166 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:24,000 Speaker 1: dedicated team of engineers. So I love talking about all 167 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:26,560 Speaker 1: the overlooked figures in our history of tech and the Internet. 168 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 1: Their stories can tell us a lot about how their 169 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:31,720 Speaker 1: identities often determine who gets remembered and who gets overlooked, 170 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:34,840 Speaker 1: even when they literally changed the history of personal computing, 171 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:38,560 Speaker 1: like Susan Kerr, or when they literally changed the world 172 00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:42,640 Speaker 1: like Lin Khanway did. So who is Lin Kanway? Lin 173 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:45,520 Speaker 1: Kanway is an eighty five year old professor Emerita at 174 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:48,160 Speaker 1: the University of Michigan of College of Engineering. And she 175 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:50,480 Speaker 1: had a big hand and contributing to the modern day 176 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:54,360 Speaker 1: Internet and smartphones. And because of her identity and good 177 00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:59,560 Speaker 1: old fashioned sexism and transphobia, her contributions were almost overlooked completely. 178 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:03,880 Speaker 1: Even though Lynn Conway literally changed the world Conway was 179 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:06,520 Speaker 1: born in nineteen thirty eight and was assigned mail at birth, 180 00:09:06,679 --> 00:09:08,400 Speaker 1: but from an early age she knew there was more 181 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:10,720 Speaker 1: to her story as it pertains to gender. Her mom 182 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:13,600 Speaker 1: was studying answer apology at Columbia, and she would flip 183 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:16,720 Speaker 1: through her mom's text books looking for answers, telling Michigan 184 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:20,520 Speaker 1: Engineering News in a really beautifully written profile about her life, 185 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:23,200 Speaker 1: it seems like people in other cultures had found different 186 00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:25,000 Speaker 1: ways to deal with what I knew I was feeling. 187 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:28,040 Speaker 1: But then that became scrambled with the thought that what 188 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:30,480 Speaker 1: I was feeling was that I was gay, but no 189 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:33,559 Speaker 1: one ever talked about those things. When Lynd Conway was fourteen, 190 00:09:33,679 --> 00:09:35,840 Speaker 1: she read a news story about a former Army private, 191 00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:38,920 Speaker 1: Christine Jorgensen, the first person in the United States to 192 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:42,320 Speaker 1: publicly announce a gender transition. I knew then what I 193 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:45,160 Speaker 1: had to do, Conway said, so, given what we know 194 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:47,640 Speaker 1: about how narrowly society of view gender in the fifties 195 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:50,160 Speaker 1: and the sixties, and to be honest even today, as 196 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:53,840 Speaker 1: you can imagine, Conway's journey was very difficult. She initially 197 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:56,440 Speaker 1: tried to transition while studying at MIT in the fifties. 198 00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:59,000 Speaker 1: She started taking hormones on her own and asked a 199 00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:00,960 Speaker 1: friend in medical school if he could help her find 200 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:03,320 Speaker 1: a doctor who could help her. The friend took her 201 00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:05,240 Speaker 1: to the dean, who told her that if she didn't 202 00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:08,199 Speaker 1: stop taking hormones, she would be put in a mental institution. 203 00:10:08,679 --> 00:10:11,560 Speaker 1: Fear of being institutionalized or arrested was a big concern 204 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:15,040 Speaker 1: for Conway because being trans was strongly associated with being 205 00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:18,200 Speaker 1: mentally ill and criminal behavior. If you were openly trans, 206 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:21,160 Speaker 1: you could end up institutionalized or even arrested in some places, 207 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:24,000 Speaker 1: which again, it's so sad to think that we really 208 00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:26,440 Speaker 1: maybe haven't come as far as you would like. After 209 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:29,760 Speaker 1: this disappointing turn of events at MIT, she put transitioning 210 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:32,000 Speaker 1: in the back of her mind. She got married, she 211 00:10:32,080 --> 00:10:34,959 Speaker 1: became a parent, and she started working at IBM. At 212 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:37,480 Speaker 1: this point, Lynne seemed to kind of have a picture 213 00:10:37,559 --> 00:10:40,760 Speaker 1: perfect life from the outside. She was making major moves 214 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:44,760 Speaker 1: and innovations. She was making major moves and innovations and 215 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:47,720 Speaker 1: design at IBM, which at the time was the seventh 216 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:51,160 Speaker 1: largest corporation in the world, while there by all accounts, 217 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:55,040 Speaker 1: she was kicking ass. She invented a hardware protocol that 218 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:58,800 Speaker 1: enabled the out of order command processing that most computers 219 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:01,800 Speaker 1: still used today. But all of this, all of these 220 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:04,360 Speaker 1: strides that she had been making, was put into jeopardy 221 00:11:04,440 --> 00:11:07,959 Speaker 1: because of transphobia, and that transphobia would alter the trajectory 222 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:20,560 Speaker 1: of her life. Conway learned about the pioneering gender transition 223 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:24,480 Speaker 1: work of doctor Harry Benjamin, an endocrinologist and sexologist known 224 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:26,920 Speaker 1: for his clinical work with transpolkes, and decided that she 225 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:29,520 Speaker 1: wanted to work with him. What's very heartbreaking is that, 226 00:11:29,559 --> 00:11:32,920 Speaker 1: according to this profile in Michigan Engineering, Conway and her 227 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:35,840 Speaker 1: then spouse had worked on a solid plan together for 228 00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:38,600 Speaker 1: how Conway's transition would work within their family. They would 229 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:41,319 Speaker 1: get a divorce and Conway would start working with doctor 230 00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:44,320 Speaker 1: Benjamin to transition. She would pay child support from her 231 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:47,480 Speaker 1: IBM salary and stay in the children's lives. They decided 232 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:50,080 Speaker 1: the children would call her aunt, and according to a 233 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:54,800 Speaker 1: really compelling Forbes piece by Jeremy Alessandre, Conway's immediate family 234 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:59,040 Speaker 1: and IBM's divisional management were actually pretty accepting and supportive 235 00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:03,080 Speaker 1: for the time at first. However, when IBM's corporate medical 236 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:05,920 Speaker 1: director learned that Conway was planning to transition in nineteen 237 00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:09,480 Speaker 1: sixty eight, he told then CEO Thomas J. Watson Jr. 238 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:13,240 Speaker 1: Who fired Conway to avoid the public embarrassment of employing 239 00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:16,800 Speaker 1: a transwoman. Getting fired from IBM had a huge impact 240 00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:20,240 Speaker 1: on Conway's life. It started kind of a downward spiral 241 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:24,000 Speaker 1: that ended up being completely destabilizing. She had to divorce 242 00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:27,680 Speaker 1: her spells while losing her income, which made everything that 243 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:30,880 Speaker 1: much more difficult. California Social Services tried to keep her 244 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:34,000 Speaker 1: away from her kids, and Conway's Expells decided that she 245 00:12:34,080 --> 00:12:36,600 Speaker 1: didn't want to have any contact with Conway because she 246 00:12:36,679 --> 00:12:38,760 Speaker 1: was worried that if Conway was in her life, the 247 00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:41,199 Speaker 1: kids would be taken by the state. Her children were 248 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:43,600 Speaker 1: just babies at the time, two and four years old. 249 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:47,400 Speaker 1: This was crushing. Conway recalls that tore me up. Let 250 00:12:47,480 --> 00:12:49,680 Speaker 1: me tell you, the hardest part about the whole thing 251 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:51,760 Speaker 1: was that I felt like a mom to them, she 252 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:54,800 Speaker 1: told Michigan Engineering. So she knew this was going to 253 00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:57,160 Speaker 1: be a tough process, and she relied on the lesson 254 00:12:57,200 --> 00:12:59,760 Speaker 1: that she learned from her lifetime love of outdoor adventures 255 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:03,239 Speaker 1: like newing and rock climbing to steady herself mentally and emotionally. 256 00:13:03,679 --> 00:13:06,000 Speaker 1: As she described it, now, I had a plan to 257 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:08,280 Speaker 1: get across the river. I could see the steps I 258 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:10,280 Speaker 1: had to make. I could see the dangers and how 259 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:13,080 Speaker 1: to protect against them. The only problem was I didn't 260 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:15,080 Speaker 1: know where I'd end up on the other side. So 261 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:17,320 Speaker 1: even though it cost to her family and her career, 262 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:21,040 Speaker 1: she continued to work with doctor Benjamin to transition as 263 00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:23,280 Speaker 1: a lot of transpokets will tell you the logistics of 264 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:26,360 Speaker 1: changing your name. Getting new identification and paperwork can be 265 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:29,080 Speaker 1: a big part of navigating trans identity so that you 266 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:31,280 Speaker 1: can work and earn an income, have a bank account, 267 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:33,880 Speaker 1: get a place to live. But even today this process 268 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:38,640 Speaker 1: is complicated and sometimes prohibitively expensive. Sadly, many trans folks 269 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:40,760 Speaker 1: do not have the support or resources they need to 270 00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:45,360 Speaker 1: navigate it. According to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, only 271 00:13:45,440 --> 00:13:48,199 Speaker 1: one fifth of trans folks who have transitioned have been 272 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:50,960 Speaker 1: able to update all of their IDs and records, and 273 00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:53,320 Speaker 1: one third haven't been able to update any of their 274 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:56,920 Speaker 1: ideas or records. Luckily, Conway was able to use connections 275 00:13:56,920 --> 00:13:59,560 Speaker 1: that doctor Benjamin had in Oakland to get this process 276 00:13:59,559 --> 00:14:02,560 Speaker 1: done quick, which was especially important and back then in 277 00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:06,440 Speaker 1: order to avoid suspicion that could turn unsafe. Conway recalls, 278 00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:09,520 Speaker 1: you were an undocumented alien from Mars. You didn't have 279 00:14:09,559 --> 00:14:11,480 Speaker 1: a birth certificate. How are you going to get a job? 280 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:13,760 Speaker 1: This was the sixties. You can think of it like 281 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:16,240 Speaker 1: being a spy in a foreign country. If you were 282 00:14:16,240 --> 00:14:19,080 Speaker 1: found out, you'd be dealt with immediately, If not by 283 00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:22,080 Speaker 1: the police, then people on the streets. So it's probably 284 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:25,480 Speaker 1: clear why. After transitioning, Conway started what she refers to 285 00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:29,480 Speaker 1: as the stealth phase of her career. In nineteen sixty nine, 286 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:32,720 Speaker 1: Conway changed her name, hit her gender identity, and started 287 00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:35,240 Speaker 1: looking for work and computing, eventually finding a job as 288 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:38,720 Speaker 1: a contract programmer. Then later worked at Memoires, and then 289 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:42,920 Speaker 1: she landed the big account at the Xerots Pello Alto 290 00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:46,960 Speaker 1: Research Center, which was a huge deal. Again she started 291 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:49,280 Speaker 1: kicking ass like she always did, just like she did 292 00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:53,360 Speaker 1: back at IBM before being fired. Her work completely revolutionized 293 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:57,040 Speaker 1: how microchips were designed. She sometimes called the hidden Hand 294 00:14:57,520 --> 00:14:59,720 Speaker 1: for that work, and it led to the tech revolution 295 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:01,640 Speaker 1: in the nineteen eighties and is the reason why we 296 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:04,640 Speaker 1: have smartphones and personal computers. But even while she was 297 00:15:04,680 --> 00:15:08,440 Speaker 1: accomplishing all of these important innovations, she couldn't really own 298 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:10,720 Speaker 1: them because of her identity. In a piece for the 299 00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:14,160 Speaker 1: Huffington Post, Conway called this time in her life stealth mode, 300 00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:17,200 Speaker 1: where she kind of just purposely stayed behind the scenes 301 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:21,200 Speaker 1: despite creating innovations that literally changed the world. Because during 302 00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:24,120 Speaker 1: this time, her fan's identity was not public knowledge, she 303 00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:28,480 Speaker 1: only told her closest friends, HR administrators and security clearance administrators. 304 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:31,680 Speaker 1: She purposely made herself scarce and stayed behind the scenes, 305 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:34,880 Speaker 1: hence the nickname the Hidden Hand, and that meant a 306 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:39,040 Speaker 1: lot of her accomplishments and innovations did too. Transphobobia almost 307 00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:42,040 Speaker 1: kept us from having a full accounting of this important 308 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:45,640 Speaker 1: history and technology. So he did. Conway's contribution start being 309 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:49,320 Speaker 1: made public well. In nineteen ninety nine, a computer historian 310 00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:53,040 Speaker 1: began investigating Conway's early innovations at IBM, which tipped her 311 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:55,080 Speaker 1: off that others were taking credit for the work that 312 00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:57,800 Speaker 1: she had done on IBM under a different name. Conway 313 00:15:57,880 --> 00:16:00,280 Speaker 1: wanted to correct the record, but in order to do so, 314 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:02,680 Speaker 1: she would need to open up about her identity and 315 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:05,720 Speaker 1: explain why somebody with a totally different name had made 316 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:08,280 Speaker 1: all of these big accomplishments that she was saying were 317 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:11,920 Speaker 1: actually hers. She ended up telling the Computer Historian and 318 00:16:11,960 --> 00:16:15,560 Speaker 1: then quietly added a quote gender transition section to her 319 00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:18,840 Speaker 1: personal website. And this decision is what really sparked the 320 00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:22,120 Speaker 1: next chapter of her life as an advocate for trans writes. 321 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:25,120 Speaker 1: The list of ways that Lynn Kanway has advocated for 322 00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:28,640 Speaker 1: other trans folks is very long. She's given support and 323 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:31,920 Speaker 1: assistance to many transwomen going through transition. She's also been 324 00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:35,120 Speaker 1: an advocate for employment protections for transpolks. But one thing 325 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:37,440 Speaker 1: that I really love is how Lynd Kanway is still 326 00:16:37,480 --> 00:16:40,880 Speaker 1: making big changes for transpolks working in tech today. In 327 00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:44,840 Speaker 1: twenty thirteen, Conway successfully lobbied the Board of Directors at 328 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:48,480 Speaker 1: the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, which is essentially 329 00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:50,920 Speaker 1: like a code of ethics for the engineering profession to 330 00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:54,480 Speaker 1: include transpolks, and that means it impacts the world's largest 331 00:16:54,480 --> 00:16:58,280 Speaker 1: engineering professional society. Kanway story actually has a pretty happy 332 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:01,960 Speaker 1: ending after fifty years of silence. In October twenty twenty, 333 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:05,240 Speaker 1: IBM invited staff to an event called tech Trailblazer and 334 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:10,080 Speaker 1: transgender pioneer Lynn Conway in conversation with Diane Gearson. Gearson 335 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:13,520 Speaker 1: was IBM's senior vice president of Human Resources. The event 336 00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:17,080 Speaker 1: started with a formal apology to Conway for her firing 337 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:20,240 Speaker 1: fifty two years earlier. Conway said that she struggled to 338 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:23,679 Speaker 1: hold back tears. Not only did they apologize, but they 339 00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:27,240 Speaker 1: also recognize the immense contributions to IBM's work that had 340 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:31,880 Speaker 1: just gone unattributed. Dario Gill, director of IBM Research, presented 341 00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:35,200 Speaker 1: Conway with a Lifetime Achievement Award, given to individuals who 342 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:38,159 Speaker 1: have changed the world through technology innovations. Gill noted that 343 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:42,520 Speaker 1: Lynn's extraordinary technical achievements helped define the modern computing industry 344 00:17:42,800 --> 00:17:44,560 Speaker 1: and that she paid the way for how we design 345 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:48,280 Speaker 1: and make computing ships today and forever change to microelectronics 346 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:52,359 Speaker 1: devices and people's lives. IBM acknowledged that after Conway was 347 00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:55,399 Speaker 1: fired in nineteen sixty eight that her research still aided 348 00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:59,600 Speaker 1: IBM success. In nineteen sixty five, Lynn created the Architectural 349 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:03,960 Speaker 1: Level Advanced Computing System one simulator and invented a method 350 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:06,800 Speaker 1: that led to the development of the super Scholar computer. 351 00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:11,320 Speaker 1: This dynamic instruction scheduling invention was later used in computer chips, 352 00:18:11,359 --> 00:18:15,359 Speaker 1: greatly improving their performance. A spokesperson said Lynn Conway recalls 353 00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:17,720 Speaker 1: of the event instead of as being a resolution of 354 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:20,560 Speaker 1: what happened in nineteen sixty eight, it became a heartfelt 355 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:22,920 Speaker 1: group celebration of how far we've all come since then. 356 00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:26,200 Speaker 1: So Lynn Conway is actually still very much alive today. 357 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:29,440 Speaker 1: She lives on twenty four beautiful acres of meadow marsh 358 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:31,919 Speaker 1: and Woodlands and Rule, Michigan with her husband, where they 359 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:34,000 Speaker 1: spend all of their time exploring and playing in the 360 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:37,720 Speaker 1: outdoors like truly living her best life. And she's still 361 00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:40,280 Speaker 1: an activist who can follow her on Twitter at Lynn Conway. 362 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:43,679 Speaker 1: And one thing I also want to add, transpokes deserve 363 00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:46,640 Speaker 1: to live full lives that account for their contributions and brilliance, 364 00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:49,960 Speaker 1: regardless of where they are on their journeys. Transition means 365 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:52,880 Speaker 1: different things to different people. It can be personal, medical, 366 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:55,560 Speaker 1: or legal steps, telling one's friends and family or co 367 00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:59,280 Speaker 1: workers using a different name or pronouns, dressing differently, changing 368 00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:02,320 Speaker 1: one's name on lead documents, etc. As I mentioned before, 369 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:05,639 Speaker 1: it can be prohibitive for many, and trans folks deserve 370 00:19:05,720 --> 00:19:08,080 Speaker 1: to live full lives even if they are not able 371 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:10,800 Speaker 1: to transition the way that doctor Conway did. I just 372 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:13,439 Speaker 1: love doctor Conway's story because it's a good example of 373 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:17,880 Speaker 1: how living history is all around us. We can't let sexism, transphobia, 374 00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:21,800 Speaker 1: and racist systems erase all the accomplishments of marginalized people. 375 00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:24,920 Speaker 1: And I gotta end lind Conway's story with this great 376 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:28,080 Speaker 1: quote from her Huffing and Post piece bottom line, if 377 00:19:28,119 --> 00:19:30,399 Speaker 1: you want to change the future, start living as if 378 00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:33,560 Speaker 1: you're already there in. Her story is one that really 379 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:35,879 Speaker 1: inspires me. It's one of the reasons why it's so 380 00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:38,199 Speaker 1: important to me to really tell the stories of the 381 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:41,400 Speaker 1: contributions of women who have shaped technology, even if those 382 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:44,480 Speaker 1: contributions and voices go overlooked, because I used to think 383 00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:47,439 Speaker 1: of technology as a big boys club where women and 384 00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:50,000 Speaker 1: other marginalized people were trying to break their way in. 385 00:19:50,359 --> 00:19:53,240 Speaker 1: But that's not actually true. Anytime you use a computer, 386 00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:56,160 Speaker 1: it's because of the contributions of women. Women were involved 387 00:19:56,160 --> 00:19:59,000 Speaker 1: that every single step of the process of personal computing 388 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:01,119 Speaker 1: becoming what it is today. And if you don't always 389 00:20:01,119 --> 00:20:03,600 Speaker 1: hear our stories or our voices, it's not because we 390 00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:06,480 Speaker 1: weren't there. We need monuments to all the different ways 391 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:08,400 Speaker 1: that women have shaped what it means to be online 392 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:11,760 Speaker 1: and youth technology. So join me as I build them. 393 00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:15,320 Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening. I'm Bridget Todd, host of Iheartradios. 394 00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:17,399 Speaker 1: There are no bodiles on the Internet, and thanks so 395 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:20,399 Speaker 1: much to Jonathan Strickland and Tarry Harrison for the opportunity 396 00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:22,439 Speaker 1: to share these stories with you. It really means a 397 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:32,760 Speaker 1: lot happy women's history. Mom Text Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. 398 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:38,040 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 399 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:40,159 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.