Lyndsey Scott, the Victoria’s Secret Model Who Codes, Fires Back At Trolls
Lyndsey Scott, a model who has worked the runway for Victoria’s Secret, proved that she’s more than just a pretty face when she recently stood up to trolls who doubted her coding skills.
Scott became the target of these trolls when her background in computer programming was spotlighted on Instagram by an account called @coding.engineer, Motherboard reports. Although they posted a photo of her walking for Victoria’s Secret, the caption under the photo listed her educational credentials. For example, she has a double major in theatre and computer science from Amherst College. She has also created an app called Educate! which helps Ugandan students learn about entrepreneurship.
Despite these achievements, some commenters chose to mock and question her abilities, Motherboard notes. Some derisively speculated that she could probably only code “Hello World” a rite of passage that almost every coding student goes through during the early stages of their education.
But the model and actress wrote a comment of her own under the photo to hit back at the accusations.
“I have 27481 points on StackOverflow,” she wrote. Stack Overflow is an online community where developers share their knowledge.
Scott went on to add that she is the lead iOS software engineer for app developer Rallybound before reiterating the fact that she has a double major in computer science and theatre.
“Looking at these comments I wonder why 41% of women in technical careers drop out because of a hostile work environment #gofigure,” she wrote.
Scott also used her own Instagram page to reveal why she chose to respond to the trolls.
“Not trying to brag lol, just stating facts in the hope I’ll convince at least one negative commenter that programmers can come in all shapes, sizes, genders, races, etc. So they’ll think twice before doubting other women and girls they encounter in tech,” she wrote in the caption under her re-post of the original image.
On her Twitter page, she also posted screenshots of comments from women in tech who say their skills were questioned because of their appearance.
“I’m so glad to have another awesome role model,” one woman wrote. “I walked into my first programming class and was told I was in the wrong place.”
Thank you all for the outpouring of support! But most of all, thanks for getting this discussion going. ? As these Insta comments and my retweets prove, this isn’t an online only issue. I’m moved that so many of you have voiced your commitment to making tech more inclusive. ?? pic.twitter.com/iTQwdVazon
— Lyndsey Scott (@Lyndsey360) September 12, 2018
A study last year by the Kapor Center and Harris Poll revealed that sexism is rampant in the tech industry — and it’s triggering an exodus of women from these jobs.
The survey found that one in 10 women reported that they faced “unwanted sexual attention” while trying to do their jobs in the tech industry. The results also indicated that claims about discrimination and unfairness were “disproportionately higher” in tech than in other industries, The Guardian reports.
