undefined | Better HN

0 pointsMz10y ago0 comments

Yet, it appears that you will assume that we will assume that you are male. Why? Because you are on HN? Is this not buying into gender stereotypes?

(I am a woman. I am sometimes referred to as "he" on HN. I am quite open about my gender and it is specified in my profile. But the default assumption here is that anyone talking must be male -- because tech. This is accepting a stereotype.)

0 comments

rewqfdsa10y ago

Let's suppose that most HN readers are men. There's no obvious gender signaling in your username. (It's two letters long, after all.) What's wrong with someone using the male pronoun as a default until being corrected? Do you expect commentators to read a user's profile before choosing a pronoun for that user? That would be a big efficiency loss for no real benefit. It's unfortunate that this default bothers you, but it's not the responsibility of anyone to prevent offense-taking on the part of another.

MzOP10y ago

It doesn't hurt my feelings. It does, however, make it harder for most women to participate here. The correct way to handle it is to either find out my gender or speak as if you do not know what it is instead of assuming I am male. If you do not know my gender, it takes very little effort to speak in a way that admits you do not know it:

http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2015/04/what-fool-be...

wtbob10y ago

> The correct way to handle it is to either find out my gender or speak as if you do not know what it is

And the correct way to do the latter, in English, is to use male pronouns. It's different in other languages, no doubt.

2 more replies

rewqfdsa10y ago

> It does, however, make it harder for most women to participate here

I've seen many people make this claim, but I haven't seen anyone back it up with evidence. What do you mean by "harder"? Do you mean "more difficult"? In what way?

Right now, I believe claims that tiny linguistic differences create meaningful barriers to female participation in technology are all specious. I could be convinced otherwise, but have seen no evidence that might move me.

> If you do not know my gender, it takes very little effort to speak in a way that admits you do not know it

English is not structured to be gender-neutral. I'm not going to use awkward circumlocutions to avoid the possibility of offending someone.

3 more replies

mwhuang210y ago

I assumed people would infer my gender from the wording of my post.

douche10y ago

At this point, it might be weirder for a grown woman to be a hardcore fan of my little pony.

MzOP10y ago

That still means you are using gender stereotypes to not have to bother to state that you are male. You assume we will assume a man is not interested. It is still using gender stereotypes as a basis of your communication. This is something privileged people are prone to. It something women and minorities are less able to do. You can fail to state that you are male and just expect us to infer it because men very often have a dominant cultural position that actively fosters such behavior.

But thank you for replying.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

rewqfdsa10y ago

MzOP10y ago

http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2015/04/what-fool-be...

wtbob10y ago

> The correct way to handle it is to either find out my gender or speak as if you do not know what it is

And the correct way to do the latter, in English, is to use male pronouns. It's different in other languages, no doubt.

2 more replies

rewqfdsa10y ago

> It does, however, make it harder for most women to participate here

I've seen many people make this claim, but I haven't seen anyone back it up with evidence. What do you mean by "harder"? Do you mean "more difficult"? In what way?

> If you do not know my gender, it takes very little effort to speak in a way that admits you do not know it

English is not structured to be gender-neutral. I'm not going to use awkward circumlocutions to avoid the possibility of offending someone.

3 more replies

mwhuang210y ago

I assumed people would infer my gender from the wording of my post.

douche10y ago

At this point, it might be weirder for a grown woman to be a hardcore fan of my little pony.

MzOP10y ago

But thank you for replying.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse