Being inclusive...

[Christofer Dutz <ch...@c-ware.de>]

Hi,

Just wanted to bring this to the list as it has been a discussion nightmare on the comdev, members and especially the board lists recently.

I myself are "guilty" of it.

It seems that referring to the rest of the team as "guys", even if technically being gender neutral, is perceived as sexist and to be less welcoming to female and other gender people by a lot of people.

I would not say that I agree, but it's seems to be general consensus to be careful with such things.

Just thought I'd mention it. I for my part am trying to avoid it, even if it feels silly and feels like self censoring myself.

In the end we're a multicultural organization working mainly via email... No chance to read faces or tone.


Chris


Outlook für Android<https://aka.ms/ghei36> herunterladen

Re: Being inclusive...

[Julian Feinauer <j....@pragmaticminds.de>]

Hi Chris,

thanks for this hint... I guess I belong to those kind of people that are not sensual to this as I just don’t mean anything in that way... but good to know.

Julian

Am 10.05.19, 09:54 schrieb "Christofer Dutz" <ch...@c-ware.de>:

    Hi,
    
    Just wanted to bring this to the list as it has been a discussion nightmare on the comdev, members and especially the board lists recently.
    
    I myself are "guilty" of it.
    
    It seems that referring to the rest of the team as "guys", even if technically being gender neutral, is perceived as sexist and to be less welcoming to female and other gender people by a lot of people.
    
    I would not say that I agree, but it's seems to be general consensus to be careful with such things.
    
    Just thought I'd mention it. I for my part am trying to avoid it, even if it feels silly and feels like self censoring myself.
    
    In the end we're a multicultural organization working mainly via email... No chance to read faces or tone.
    
    
    Chris
    
    
    Outlook für Android<https://aka.ms/ghei36> herunterladen
    
    

Re: Being inclusive...

[Justin Mclean <ju...@classsoftware.com>]

Hi,

> It seems that referring to the rest of the team as "guys", even if technically being gender neutral, is perceived as sexist and to be less welcoming to female and other gender people by a lot of people.

It a bit more nuanced than that, the word is just not an inclusive word and there no real need to use it unless actually referring to a bunch of men. I wouldn’t cut yourself up about it if you accidentally use it, just be empathic that other people may not have the some understanding of the word and it’s use as you do.

I posted this in the other discussion, it’s a useful read [1]. This may also give some context. [2]

Thanks,
Justin

1. http://thagomizer.com/blog/2017/09/29/we-don-t-do-that-here.html
2. https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/08/guys-gender-neutral/568231/

P.S  You might of noticed a small change I did to one of you PRs the other week (in another project), it was subtle so you may of missed it.