It's a motif

So remember Schmutzie's excellent post from last week, with the video about women ("Women! Know Your Limits")? Well, Heidi's chimed in with a nod to Madonna's video "What It Feels Like For A Girl", mentioning al the Kali energy.

Kali's the Hindu goddess of war, and several weeks ago I wrote a little scenelet where Kali shows up just when Pere's having all this trouble with Hade. Aphrodite's there, and she's wafting around giving her usual killer advice - wear rose water and be sweet - and Kali's all "Want me to rough him up for you?"

I'd never seen the Madonna video before, and I have to give huge thanks to Heidi to introducing me to it. That is exactly what Kali looks like for me.

The video is comforting, in a way, to someone like me who's always angry just under the surface. I work in software, and to say it's male-dominated is like saying humans prefer to breathe air. And I've noticed myself becoming angrier and angrier, the more I work in this industry. It's coming up on 11 years now and lately I have been on a tear.

I watched that video just now and I feel so much better. Like someone gets it. Sexism has gone underground but it's still alive and well. People at work wonder why I can be confrontational. Sexism is the reason.

Well, OK. It's one reason. The other is an inability to suffer fools, and the third is just plain bad behavior. But it's the most prevalent reason.

Also: Speaking of software, a big shout-out to my new friend Sella, a kick-ass Seattle writer who's also in the software trenches. Sella's also doing NaNo. Rock on, girl.