> I find it unbelievable that you (or anyone) pays any attention to the gender of a programmer you only met online.
I didn't mean paying conscious attention to the gender - I was thinking of automatic assumptions people make about others. It's natural to make assumptions about people; it's immoral to pretend they don't exist or to object to reducing their effects.
> I searched and couldn't find it. The closest I came is the name on github.
Steven is a masculine name.
> Why do they deserve credit as women? Who cares if they are women? Give them credit for doing something as a human, not for their gender.
I entirely agree, however that doesn't stop people from making incorrect and broad generalisations about groups of people who share characteristics that are entirely out of their control.
> Yes it is. The fact that you think it isn't is a discredit to your education.
'He' is the unmarked pronoun but it's still gendered (i.e. masculine). 'It' isn't gendered, but is also generally used for inanimate objects rather than people.
> And yet you can't even tell which it is despite me writing about gender. (And no, I'm not going to tell you.)
Haha, only because I thought you would get angry if I made any assumptions about who you are.
> I ignore gender for things that have nothing to do with gender. There are plenty of things (including online) where gender matters, but programming isn't one of them.
Like I said before, I think that's cool, even if I find it a bit unbelievable that you don't make assumptions about people you meet online.
> 'He' is the unmarked pronoun but it's still gendered (i.e. masculine). 'It' isn't gendered, but is also generally used for inanimate objects rather than people.
I think I will start referring to everyone as (s?)he regardless of whether I know their gender or not. Seems the safest.
And what about "one"? Quite archaic but gender neutral :)
And there is name "Maria" in Polish which is feminine name but I personally know guys bearing this name so maybe there is woman with name "Steven" - are you sure?
Comments
> I find it unbelievable that you (or anyone) pays any attention to the gender of a programmer you only met online.
I didn't mean paying conscious attention to the gender - I was thinking of automatic assumptions people make about others. It's natural to make assumptions about people; it's immoral to pretend they don't exist or to object to reducing their effects.
> I searched and couldn't find it. The closest I came is the name on github.
Steven is a masculine name.
> Why do they deserve credit as women? Who cares if they are women? Give them credit for doing something as a human, not for their gender.
I entirely agree, however that doesn't stop people from making incorrect and broad generalisations about groups of people who share characteristics that are entirely out of their control.
> Yes it is. The fact that you think it isn't is a discredit to your education.
'He' is the unmarked pronoun but it's still gendered (i.e. masculine). 'It' isn't gendered, but is also generally used for inanimate objects rather than people.
> And yet you can't even tell which it is despite me writing about gender. (And no, I'm not going to tell you.)
Haha, only because I thought you would get angry if I made any assumptions about who you are.
> I ignore gender for things that have nothing to do with gender. There are plenty of things (including online) where gender matters, but programming isn't one of them.
Like I said before, I think that's cool, even if I find it a bit unbelievable that you don't make assumptions about people you meet online.
> 'He' is the unmarked pronoun but it's still gendered (i.e. masculine). 'It' isn't gendered, but is also generally used for inanimate objects rather than people.
I think I will start referring to everyone as (s?)he regardless of whether I know their gender or not. Seems the safest.
And what about "one"? Quite archaic but gender neutral :)
And there is name "Maria" in Polish which is feminine name but I personally know guys bearing this name so maybe there is woman with name "Steven" - are you sure?
Nope, but seeing as he doesn't mention his gender on the subsequent blogpost I think it's a reasonable assumption.