Hector Martin

TBH, that thread is such a mess of a mix of valid points with terrible ones all the way from unintentional malice to overt misogyny that I think trying to untangle it is a can of worms I'm not willing to open right now. Suffice it to say, this stuff is complicated. :/

FFS can we just not mention gender at all, it always seems to piss somebody off. I'm getting super tired of a few ppl getting all bent out of shape about tech videos about tech that say the wrong word. The only gender I care about is the + and - on 100Amp DC power connectors.

I once had a conversation about whether connector genders contributed to sexism in STEM. Someone was convinced there was a problem. There are definitely issues to be worked out... but that isn't one of them. Some people just seek to polarize everything. Pun not intended.

IMO our 'group' {EE-interested folks who follow similar online) all have our personal {whatever stuff} but we enjoy interacting online about tech stuff. I love it. It works well. If I said "X is irrelevent as s/he's a wo/man' would be ludicrous. Can we just be asexual online?

You may be fine with not discussing gender, but you’re sitting in a position of privilege. So, so many other people aren’t; and it is absolutely horrifying that you suggest they just shut up about the legitimate inequalities they face because you want to be spared thinking of it.

^ A lot of people's whole entire lives are politicized, whether they want them to be or not. Don't tell them not to speak up, they don't really get a choice in whether or not this is a big deal to them.

Dismissing gender issues "because we all just do tech" is not right nor fair. These are things we need to work on. That said... I totally get the "if only we just didn't have to deal with all this crap" feeling.

I respect both those who fight fairly to improve the status quo and fix problems, and those who would prefer not to get involved (as long as they are not part of the problem themselves nor require others to also not get involved). Inaction is a valid (neither + nor -) choice IMO.