Bonum Certa Men Certa

They Tell Us Linus Torvalds is Sexist But Evidence Suggests Otherwise

Likewise, there's no good evidence that Richard Stallman is sexist (just opportunistic hearsay and misrepresentation)

Torvalds family
What % of those whom Torvalds blasted in mailing lists were not female? And as the only man in the house of feminists, does that fictional "sexist" narrative make any sense at all?



Summary: Torvalds and others who are middle-aged (or older) males are often torpedoed using weakly-backed allegations (or insinuations/innuendo) of sexism; that does not seem to matter and won't matter when they treat men the same (or worse)

OUR previous article about the Linux Foundation has received over 13,000 reads, i.e. a lot more than the usual. So it must have struck a nerve. Torvalds "has been under attack for many years but it was as late as 2013 that the attacks became more coordinated and consolidated," one person told us. "I suspect, but can't prove, that it was the criticism of Nvidia and consequent defense of the GPL, which was the deciding factor in them collectively moving to take him out."



"Maybe the problem is people who try to demonise Free software leaders by misusing the feminist cause. I've seen Torvalds writing loads of strongly-worded things, but rarely have I stumbled upon anything that's even remotely misogynistic/chauvinistic. The same is true for Stallman."The deeper we look into the attempt to oust Stallman (partly successful; he's still in GNU), the more evidence we find that we didn't see before, e.g. the degree to which IBM/Microsoft may have been behind it. Look at the demography and corporate affiliations, which aren't publicly stated so one must dig. One can find October 2018 articles such as "IBM to acquire Red Hat in deal valued at $34 billion" (mere weeks after IBM-connected media caused Torvalds to pull away, we presume partly due to pressure from the Linux Foundation because of things we read at the times; sources sent us E-mails at the time alleging that IBM had played a role in it, trying to lower the price of Red Hat). Looking back at the whole thing, especially with new optics or a new set of spectacles, it's starting to make a little more sense. Red Hat has long attempted to shoehorn its own replacements for things that worked absolutely fine, were modular, widely used and anti-monopolistic (by their very structural nature). Not so convenient when you're trying to sell $2,000 annual support contracts for a server... systemd is now in most servers; all that systemd needs now is its own kernel.

Remember how back in 2009 they tried telling us that Stallman, who posts lots of feminism-themed news picks in his personal/political site, is "sexist" because he mentioned the word "virgins" (without even specifying a gender; men too can be virgins). Maybe the problem is people who try to demonise Free software leaders by misusing the feminist cause. I've seen Torvalds writing loads of strongly-worded things, but rarely have I stumbled upon anything that's even remotely misogynistic/chauvinistic. The same is true for Stallman. Their most outspoken rants/outbursts were directed at men. If you want to see male-dominated culture, look no further than IBM. Hypocrites like these deserve the most condemnation.

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Year of the Bubble
We hope that in 2026 the marketing liars will find some new buzzwords to latch onto and quit calling everything "AI"
The Right to Repair (Especially When Products Are So Poorly Made)
Many electrical appliances fail often/quick and are nearly impossible to repair
Sounds Like Microsoft 'Open' 'AI' (Slop) Ran Out of Money to Borrow
Maybe in 2026 slop will be scarce enough that eventually, maybe by year's end, we'll manage to just ignore it.
Links 24/12/2025: US TACOs on "China Chip Tariffs Until 2027", Russian Snickers in U.K. Convenience Shops
Links for the day
 
The Register MS: Don't Use Linux
That really says a lot about The Register MS
EPO People Power - Part XV - EPO Cocainegate to Resume This Weekend
The next installment (number 16) will probably come out this weekend
Microsoft: XBox is Going "Online", "Cloud"...
XBox as a console is pretty much dead
Mozilla Firefox is a GAFAM Browser With Slop, Move to a Free Software Web Browser
on mobile the options would be more limited
libera.chat Was Under Attack Last Night
Several months from now libera.chat turns 5
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Raises Over $300,000 Before Christmas
the FSF made it past $300,000
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, December 24, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, December 24, 2025
Gemnini Links 25/12/2025: Hibernation and TV detox
Links for the day
In India, Staff Works on Christmas Eve, Becomes Unemployed (Last Day)
The company fires based on how "expensive" workers are more often than based on their productivity
Links 24/12/2025: Cheeto President "Accused of Rape in Jeffrey Epstein Files", Windows to be Replaced by Slop?
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/12/2025: Tea, Love During Pain, and Gaming This Year
Links for the day
GAFAM is a Bubble, Nothing is Free in This World
Nothing is free in the world
My New CD Player/Stereo Didn't Even Last a Year, My CD Player/Stereo From the Early 1990s Still Works
That helped reaffirm what I said in recent years about production/manufacturing standards of "modern" things
GitHub Isn't Free, Microsoft Subsidises It (Losses) to Entrap You Inside Proprietary Software, Now Come the Fees
GitHub was never free
XBox Console is Dead, "Microsoft is Rethinking What XBox is"
So XBox is now "cloud"
IBM SkillsBuild: Teaching Slop to People
What skills does that give? Making more slopfarms?
Maybe 2026 Will be the Last Year of António Campinos
Europe's patent system is run by thugs and it serves thugs
2025: The Year LLM Slop Rose to Prominence and Then Fell
the slop hype is bound to end
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, December 23, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, December 23, 2025
Links 24/12/2025: Spotify Surveillance and Shadow Over Rule of Law in Hong Kong
Links for the day
A Good End for a Fine Year
Today we saw some pleasant news online about the growth of GNU/Linux and more perils impacting Windows and XBox
Serial Sloppers Lost Momentum, Sites With "Linux" in Their Name Barely Bother Anymore
Will 2026 be the year slopfarms jump the shark?
Gemini Links 23/12/2025: Hydraulic Pressure Balance and mercury://
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/12/2025: "The sun is shinning" and "problem in the Butlerian Jihad setup"
Links for the day
Links 23/12/2025: "Over 8,700 News Articles Censored in Turkey in 2024" and "Photos Are Being Deleted From the Epstein Files"
Links for the day
Techrights as 'Regulator' Against Runaway Trains
"Runaway trains" never scared us because we know that they, unlike us, don't think rationally
Links 23/12/2025: That ‘Satisfying Click’ and Security Lapses, Car Bomb Kills Russian Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov
Links for the day
Links 23/12/2025: GNU Taler 1.3, US Regime Censors Television Again
Links for the day
Valve Can Bring More Users to GNU/Linux, But It Won't Bring Freedom
Steam is DRM
Social Control Media is Bots (Fake Traffic, Fake 'Engagement')
As per FORTUNE, 76% of Twitter is alleged to be bots now
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, December 22, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, December 22, 2025
How the Slop (So-called 'AI') Bubble Will Burst Next Year
There are already talks about mass layoffs in January
"Generative AI Bubble Has Begun to Pop", Nvidia Rides “Circular Financing... a Strategy That Hearkens Back to the Dot-com Crisis”
For companies like Microsoft this may mean another 30,000+ layoffs next year
Microsoft-Connected Media Talking About XBox Division "Profit Margins" is Distraction From XBox Sales Collapsing 70% in One Year
The simple fact is, Microsoft's console is dead in the water
The Reality is "Vibe Code" (Slop) is That It's Worthless
“Confidently Wrong”