Date: Sun, 07 Feb 1999 00:34:46 -0700 From: Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com> To: Mark Ovens <marko@uk.radan.com> Cc: Licia <licia@o-o.org>, advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Women in FreeBSD ( was Re: Is there a reseller program?) Message-ID: <36BD4216.DB24B7E3@softweyr.com> References: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9902051300570.10237-100000@o-o.org> <36BB988A.48159D7B@uk.radan.com> <19990205222817.I6050@softweyr.com> <36BC82BF.9DAE2E55@uk.radan.com>
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Mark Ovens wrote:
>
> Wes Peters wrote:
> >
> > Overtly, no, but issues like race and gender always come up, it's
> > a factor of human life. Race is less apparent than gender in many
> > ways; often names boil down to simple categories of "vaguely
> > european", "vaguely oriential", and "I have no idea." If, on the
> > other hand, your name is Licia, Laura, or Sue, chances are pretty
> > good that most males of european descent are immediately going to
> > leap to the conclusion the poster is female.
>
> True, but then there are plenty of names where the gender is not obvious
> at all (except to residents of the poster's country).
And some not even then. Feel free to guess the gender of my offspring,
named Bailey. You have approximately a 50% chance of getting it right,
give or take 1%. My sister-in-law's firstborn is named Morgan. Wanna
guess at that one? ;^)
>
> > Depending on who the
> > reader is, this will cause them to pay more or less attention to
> > the author, be more or less critical of their opinions, and more
> > or less patient with them.
>
> That should depend on the content of the message rather than the person
> who sent it, surely
Should, but doesn't. We all have our prejudices, some less than others,
and some more controlled than others, but they're still there.
> > All of these also apply to those of a different culture.
> >
> > I, in general, am more interested, less critical, and more patient,
> > but hey, that's just me. I'm also less likely to assume a woman
> > is an idiot, I'd rather assume she's just an expert at something
> > else. I know this makes me incredibly sexist,
>
> Not wishing to pass judgement on your opinions, but I can see some
> (all?) women reading this to consider that rather patronizing.
So can I, but it still stands. I've been roundly cursed for opening
doors for women, by the women as they walk through them, but I'm not
about to stop.
The women I've come to know, probably even a little bit, realize
it's not patronizing. I prefer to talk to women, they're so much
more able to carry on a conversation than the average male. Of
course, I don't spend much time with "average" males, either. ;^)
> > but in my experience
> > there ARE far more male jerks, morons, and madmen than female. ;^)
>
> Got to agree with you there :-(
>
> > I also try to cultivate helping relationships with people of
> > different cultures. I've met people over the net in Africa, Australia,
> > and England whom I now consider good friends, simply by answering
> > (or occasionally asking) a few questions. Who knows, I may someday
> > get the chance to share my home, or perhaps even theirs, simply for
> > the price of helping somebody with PPP, or DNS, or something else
> > that is relatively trivial for me.
>
> Yes, that's one of the great things about the international nature of
> the Internet, you can learn so much more than, in this case, FreeBSD.
> Someone recently took the time to explain the definition of "felony" and
> "misdemeanour" in the context of US law after a thread about spam, for
> example.
One of the most interesting conversations I've had came about as a
result of helping a young man in England with a PPP problem. His
name is Robin and he works for the Sheriff of Nottingham. I asked
him if he gets a lot of people curious about this situation, and
he said mostly from yanks; apparently the story isn't that well-
known in England. ;^)
> > --
> > "Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?"
> >
>
> I don't know ;-)
That's a culturally loaded joke, I don't expect anyone outside North
America to get it. I'm not too sure about outside the "American
Midwest," though it was originally given to me by a friend from central
California. He's very much more well-read than the average US citizen,
though.
--
"Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?"
Wes Peters Softweyr LLC
http://www.softweyr.com/~softweyr wes@softweyr.com
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